"The first and typical example of the application of mathematics to the indirect investigation of truth, is within the limits of the pure science itself; the application of algebra to geometry, the introduction of which, far more than any of his metaphysical speculations, has immortalized the name of Descartes, and constitutes the greatest single step ever made in the progress of the exact sciences. Its rationale is simple. It is grounded on the general truth, that the position of every point, the direction of every line, and consequently the shape and magnitude of every enclosed space, may be fixed by the length of perpendiculars thrown down upon two straight lines, or (when the third dimension of space is taken into account) upon three plane surfaces, meeting one another at right angles in the same point. A consequence or rather a part of this general truth is that, curve lines and surfaces may be determined by their equations."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Natural philosophersCatholics from FrancePhilosophers from FranceMathematicians from FrancePhysicists from France
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
John Stuart Mill, An Examination of Sir William Hamilton's Philosophy (1865) as quoted in 5th ed. (1878) pp. 617-618.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
René Descartes
107 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by René Descartes →
Related Quotes
"It appears then that the distance between one thing and another does not depend on any material thing between them, a…"
"What I have given in the second book on the nature and properties of curved lines, and the method of examining them, …"
"No more useful inquiry can be proposed than that which seeks to determine the nature and the scope of human knowledge…"
"Mr. Clerselier has written me that you are expecting from him my Meditations... in order to present them to the queen…"
"Mais apud me omnia fiunt Mathematicè in Natura"
"No doubt you know that Galileo had been convicted not long ago by the Inquisition, and that his opinion on the moveme…"
"M. Desargues puts me under obligations on account of the pains that it has pleased him to have in me, in that he show…"
"Je pense, donc je suis."
"Le bon sens est la chose du monde la mieux partagée : car chacun pense en être si bien pourvu, que ceux même qui sont…"
"Me tenant comme je suis, un pied dans un pays et l'autre en un autre, je trouve ma condition très heureuse, en ce qu'…"