• Title/Summary/Keyword: Renaissance mathematics

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Mathematics and Society in Koryo and Chosun (고려.조선시대의 수학과 사회)

  • Joung Ji-Ho
    • The Mathematical Education
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    • v.24 no.2
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    • pp.48-73
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    • 1986
  • Though the tradition of Korean mathematics since the ancient time up to the 'Enlightenment Period' in the late 19th century had been under the influence of the Chinese mathematics, it strove to develop its own independent of Chinese. However, the fact that it couldn't succeed to form the independent Korean mathematics in spite of many chances under the reign of Kings Sejong, Youngjo, and Joungjo was mainly due to the use of Chinese characters by Koreans. Han-gul (Korean characters) invented by King Sejong had not been used widely as it was called and despised Un-mun and Koreans still used Chinese characters as the only 'true letters' (Jin-suh). The correlation between characters and culture was such that, if Koreans used Han-gul as their official letters, we may have different picture of Korean mathematics. It is quite interesting to note that the mathematics in the 'Enlightenment Period' changed rather smoothly into the Western mathematics at the time when Han-gul was used officially with Chinese characters. In Koryo, the mathematics existed only as a part of the Confucian refinement, not as the object of sincere study. The mathematics in Koryo inherited that of the Unified Shilla without any remarkable development of its own, and the mathematicians were the Inner Officials isolated from the outside world who maintained their positions as specialists amid the turbulence of political changes. They formed a kind of Guild, their posts becoming patrimony. The mathematics in Koryo significant in that they paved the way for that of Chosun through a few books of mathematics such as 'Sanhak-Kyemong', 'Yanghwi-Sanpup' and 'Sangmyung-Sanpup'. King Sejong was quite phenomenal in his policy of promotion of mathematics. King himself was deeply interested in the study, createing an atmosphere in which all the high ranking officials and scholars highly valued mathematics. The sudden development of mathematic culture was mainly due to the personality and capacity of king who took anyone with the mathematic talent into government service regardless of his birth and against the strong opposition of the conservative officials. However, King's view of mathematics never resulted in the true development of mathematics perse and he used it only as an official technique in the tradition way. Korean mathematics in King Sejong's reign was based upon both the natural philosophy in China and the unique geo-political reality of Korean peninsula. The reason why the mathematic culture failed to develop continually against those social background was that the mathematicians were not allowed to play the vital role in that culture, they being only the instrument for the personality or politics of the king. While the learned scholar class sometimes played the important role for the development of the mathematic culture, they often as not became an adamant barrier to it. As the society in Chosun needed the function of mathematics acutely, the mathematicians formed the settled class called Jung-in (Middle-Man). Jung-in was a unique class in Chosun and we can't find its equivalent in China or Japan. These Jung-in mathematician officials lacked tendency to publish their study, since their society was strictly exclusive and their knowledge was very limited. Though they were relatively low class, these mathematicians played very important role in Chosun society. In 'Sil-Hak (the Practical Learning) period' which began in the late 16th century, especially in the reigns of Kings Youngjo and Jungjo, which was called the Renaissance of Chosun, the ambitious policy for the development of science and technology called for. the rapid increase of he number of such technocrats as mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Amid these social changes, the Jung-in mathematicians inevitably became quite ambitious and proud. They tried to explore deeply into mathematics perse beyond the narrow limit of knowledge required for their office. Thus, in this period the mathematics developed rapidly, undergoing very important changes. The characteristic features of the mathematics in this period were: Jung-in mathematicians' active study an publication, the mathematic studies by the renowned scholars of Sil-Hak, joint works by these two classes, their approach to the Western mathematics and their effort to develop Korean mathematics. Toward the 'Enlightenment Period' in the late 19th century, the Western mathematics experienced great difficulty to take its roots in the Peninsula which had been under the strong influence of Confucian ideology and traditional Korean mathematic system. However, with King Kojong's ordinance in 1895, the traditional Korean mathematics influenced by Chinese disappeared from the history of Korean mathematics, as the school system was hanged into the Western style and the Western mathematics was adopted as the only mathematics to be taught at the Schools of various levels. Thus the 'Enlightenment Period' is the period in which Korean mathematics shifted from Chinese into European.

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A Study on Convergence between Mathematics and Fine Arts by Galileo Galilei (갈릴레오의 수학과 미술의 융합에 관한 연구)

  • Jung, Won
    • The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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    • v.6 no.1
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    • pp.255-261
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    • 2020
  • Versatile and innovative interdisciplinary professionals refer to those who can engage in an efficient cooperation with experts in other fields or to those who can themselves put knowledge of different fields together. This article aims to look into Galileo Galilei as an example of historic figure that made remarkable achievements by merging knowledge in multiple fields of study. It also shows that Galileo, who had active exchange with painters during the Renaissance, presented the findings from his telescope observations in the form of drawings and that he used them to build core logics that criticizes the traditional Aristotelian cosmology. Galileo drew the critical logics, hardly achievable from a simple observation report or mathematical demonstration, from his hand drawing. The Galileo case well proposes the goals and direction of how the modern society should nurture its interdisciplinary professionals today.

A Study on the Development of Geometry as the Natural Laws and the Concepts of Space - Focus on the Whitehead's theories of natural laws - (자연법칙으로서 기하학과 공간 개념의 전개에 관한 연구 - 화이트헤드의 자연법칙 학설을 중심으로 -)

  • Hwang, Tae-Joo
    • Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.90-98
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    • 2010
  • The concepts of laws like regularity or persistence or recurrence those are discovered in nature, became the essential elements in speculative philosophy, study and scientific technology. Western civilization was spread out by these natural laws. As this background, this study is aimed to research the theories of natural laws and the development of geometry as the descriptive tools and the development aspects of the concepts of space. According to Whitehead's four theories on the natural laws, the result of this study that aimed like that as follows. First, the theories on the immanence and imposition of the natural laws were the predominant ideas from ancient Greek to before the scientific revolution, the theory on the simple description like the positivism made the Newton-Cartesian mechanism and an absolutist world view. The theory on the conventional interpretation made the organicism and relativism world view according to non-Euclidean geometry. Second, the geometrical composition of ancient Greek architecture was an aesthetics that represented the immanence of natural laws. Third, in the basic symbol of medieval times, the numeral symbol was the frame of thought and was an important principal of architecture. Fourth, during the Renaissance, architecture was regarded as mathematics that made the order of universe to visible things and the geometry was regarded as an important architectural principal. Fifth, according to the non-Euclidean geometry, it was possible to present the natural phenomena and the universe. Sixth, topology made to lapse the division of traditional floor, wall and ceiling in contemporary architecture and made to build the continuous space. Seventy, the new nature was explained by fractal concepts not by Euclidean shapes, fractal presented that the essence of nature had not mechanical and linear characteristic but organic and non-linear characteristic.

Bernays and the Axiomatic Method (베르나이스와 공리적 방법)

  • Park, Woo-Suk
    • Korean Journal of Logic
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.1-38
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    • 2011
  • Bernays has not drawn scholarly attention that he deserves. Only quite recently, the reevaluation of his philosophy, including the projects of editing, translating, and reissuing his writings, has just started. As a part of this renaissance of Bernays studies, this article tries to distinguish carefully between Hilbert's and Bernays' views regarding the axiomatic method. We shall highlight the fact that Hilbert was so proud of his own axiomatic method on textual evidence. Bernays' estimation of the place of Hilbert's achievements in the history of the axiomatic method will be scrutinized. Encouraged by the fact that there are big differences between the early middle Bernays and the later Bernays in this matter, we shall contrast them vividly. The most salient difference between Hilbert and Bernays will shown to be found in the problem of the uniformity of the axiomatic method. In the same vein, we will discuss the later Bernays' criticism of Carnap, for Carnap's project of philosophy of science in the late 1950's seems to be a continuation and an extension of Hilbert's faith in the uniformity of the axiomatic method.

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Anatomical Achievement and Thought of Leonardo da Vinci (레오나르도 다빈치의 해부학 업적과 사고)

  • Chai, Ok Hee;Song, Chang Ho
    • Anatomy & Biological Anthropology
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.35-46
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    • 2016
  • Leonardo da Vinci is remembered as the greatest genius of the Renaissance. He left outstanding achievements as an artist, scientist and inventor, and contributes up to today's science. He ranks the best in a variety of fields, such as botany, mathematics, geology, astronomy, geometry and optics. It has well known that Leonardo is an artist, scientist, inventor and philosopher. And he was a great anatomist that dissected dead bodies and animals directly and left many anatomical drawings. He took an interest in anatomy from the point of view of the artist, which is why the human body structure and function to know the sakes were "ignorant of the anatomy should not be upset." Over time, he became interested in the structure and function of the body, even get the human body in a difficult environment; he dissected many the human bodies directly. His scientific inquiry and infatuation made him as an advanced pioneer for more than 100 years, and got enough level to surpass the artistry. Leonardo left about 1,800 anatomical figures of the muscular, skeletal, vascular, nervous and urogenital system, and they are also very scientific and high artistic achievements. The aim of this article is to take a look at Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical achievements and thoughts. In addition, the goal is to knowledge today's anatomists about Leonardo da Vinci's astonishing achievements as a great pioneer in anatomy.