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Document Details : Title: Albert the Great and Roger Bacon against Indivisibilism Subtitle: Accounts of Mathematics Compared Author(s): CRIALESI, Clelia V. Journal: Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales Volume: 90 Issue: 2 Date: 2023 Pages: 291-318 DOI: 10.2143/RTPM.90.2.3292733 Abstract : This article explores the use of Euclidean geometry in the medieval continuum debate, with a focus on Albert the Great and Roger Bacon. It examines how their differing accounts of mathematics shape their application of geometrical proofs to refute indivisibilism, i.e., the belief in indivisible constituents in the physical world. Albert asserts that abstracted quantity is 'imaginable' and is as such the object of mathematical knowledge. Bacon, by contrast, contends that mathematical knowledge of abstracted quantity is always associated with material instances. This distinction highlights their varied approaches to employing geometry in discussions of indivisibilism: Albert’s proof relies on 'imaginative reasoning', while Bacon’s proof straddles the boundary between mathematics and physics. |
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