Introduction

The study of philosophy begins with questions that are as personal as they are universal: What truths can I know? How should I live? Who, or what, am I? Where is my place in the grand scheme of things? To respond fruitfully to such questions requires training in critical habits of mind, learning from the rich traditions and the great minds that have reflected on such questions and engaging in lively discussion with a community of inquirers. Seattle University undergraduate philosophy courses communicate the value of philosophy and impart knowledge of its most influential figures. Courses in the curriculum help students to bring their own intellectual concerns into dialogue with great minds of the past and present, and to hone skills of reasoning and argumentation that make that questioning illuminating, reliable, and useful. 

Upcoming Events

“The Changing Notion of ‘Number’ in Pre-modern Mathematics: A Missing Link between Diophantus’ and Vieta’s Concept of ‘Number’” 

Professor Jeff Oaks
University of Indianapolis
Department of Mathematics 

January 10, 2012, 4:00 Wyckoff Auditorium 

 New ideas in mathematics have often been conceived and practiced without any rigorous grounding, compelling theoretical mathematicians to later adjust or reformulate foundations. Complex numbers and calculus are two modern examples. In his talk Prof. Oaks will consider the very notion of “number,” regarded by the Greeks as a multitude of units. Such a conception precludes irrational numbers. Yet despite being steeped in Greek learning, later Arabic mathematicians worked with them anyway. The way Arabic algebraists calculated with irrational square roots shows that while they accepted these roots as numbers, they still respected the notion of “multitude” when expressing polynomials. This treatment of irrationals in arithmetic and algebra was passed on to medieval Europe, and it was only in the 16th century that polynomials began to take on a more modern character. It is in the context of this historical development that Prof. Oaks offers a commentary on the philosopher and historian of mathematics Jacob Klein’s account of ancient and modern “number,” particularly his view of the work of François Vieta.

Professor Oaks is chair of his department and has taught at the University of Indianapolis since 1992. He studies the history of pre-modern algebra, mainly Arabic algebra but also Greek and Italian, as well as differential geometry. He is currently working on Diophantus, Arabic arithmetic, and François Vieta. 

The Lecture is sponsored by the Departments of Philosophy and Physics, with generous support from the Colleges of Science and Engineering and Arts & Sciences, the Department of Mathematics, and the Arts & Sciences Pigott-McCone Chair.

For more information 
  

Ideas: From Hegel to Deleuze

Dr. Julián Ferreyra 
4 PM on January 27, 2012 
Hunthausen 100  

 Dr. Ferreyra, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, earned his doctorate at Paris X (Nanterre) and is currently a Fulbright Fellow at Harvard University. He is the author of many articles as well as the book, L’ontologie du capitalisme chez Gilles Deleuze (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2010).

A SMALL RECEPTION WILL FOLLOW IN THE SEATTLE UNIVERSITY PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT