In the Blink of an Idea: Infinitesimal Calculus and the 18th Century Mind

Daniel Smyth • Wesleyan University

May 3rd @ 6 P.M.
Zoom Conference: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/98396636283

This talk explores three ways that the development and popularization of infinitesimal calculus influenced contemporaneous (c. 1680-1790) theories of knowledge and mental activity. It was a truism of ancient pedigree that the human mind cannot comprehend the infinite. So when calculus or “the science of the infinite” (as it was often called) appeared to do just this, a gauntlet was thrown. How must we (re)conceive the human mind in order to explain (or explain away!) this novel cognitive achievement? Unsurprisingly, different interpretations of the infinitesimal – or the “evanescent moment”, as Newton called it – yield different conclusions about the human mind. I will consider the infinitesimal (1) as a potential object of representation and knowledge, (2) as a feature of the mind’s own representations, and (3) as a method or heuristic for acquiring knowledge. The “evanescent moment”, I suggest, is not just a period of time, but a posture of mind.

Ephemera
View Spring 2021 Lecture List

Center for the Humanities · 95 Pearl Street, Middletown, CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/humanities

Wesleyan Logo