This image is a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. Plato can be seen on the left, and Aristotle is to the right of him. This image is in the public domain.
Instructor(s)
Dr. Lee Perlman
MIT Course Number
ES.2H3
As Taught In
Fall 2009
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
Western philosophy and theoretical mathematics were born together, and the cross-fertilization of ideas in the two disciplines was continuously acknowledged throughout antiquity. In this course, we read works of ancient Greek philosophy and mathematics, and investigate the way in which ideas of definition, reason, argument and proof, rationality and irrationality, number, quality and quantity, truth, and even the idea of an idea were shaped by the interplay of philosophic and mathematical inquiry.
