{"product_id":"squaring-the-circle-the-war-between-hobbes-and-wallis","title":"Squaring the Circle","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Squaring the Circle\" by Douglas M. Jesseph is a mathematics book and learning resource focused on Core Mathematics. Best for teachers, students, and readers looking for stronger mathematical understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1655, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes claimed he had solved the centuries-old problem of \"squaring of the circle\" (constructing a square equal in area to a given circle). With a scathing rebuttal to Hobbes's claims, the mathematician John Wallis began one of the longest and most intense intellectual disputes of all time. Squaring the Circle is a detailed account of this controversy, from the core mathematics to the broader philosophical, political, and religious issues at stake. Hobbes believed that by recasting geometry in a materialist mold, he could solve any geometric problem and thereby demonstrate the power of his materialist metaphysics. Wallis, a prominent Presbyterian divine as well as an eminent mathematician, refuted Hobbes's geometry as a means of discrediting his philosophy, which Wallis saw as a dangerous mix of atheism and pernicious political theory. Hobbes and Wallis's \"battle of the books\" illuminates the intimate relationship between science and crucial seventeenth-century debates over the limits of sovereign power and the existence of God.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46416868245703,"sku":"1-99-510-002888","price":49.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/9575\/6487\/files\/9780226399003.jpg?v=1776282976","url":"https:\/\/snowflakeskies.com\/products\/squaring-the-circle-the-war-between-hobbes-and-wallis","provider":"Snowflake Skies","version":"1.0","type":"link"}