Abstract

Andrej Schetnikov, a historian of mathematics from Novosibirsk, discusses the problem of origins of the concepts of definitions and axioms in Ancient mathematics prior Euclid. Having noticed the fact that axioms and postulates are entirely absent from geometry in the time of Plato, the author turns to the problem of definitions in Plato and Aristotle instead and reads relevant passages from their works against the background of the “Elements” of Euclid. His working hypothesis is that the greater part of proofs from the first book of the “Elements” should be traced back to the time of Aristotle‘s school rather then Plato’s Academy despite the degree of sophistication of the mathematical technique in the time of the latter.