<一般論文>Thomas Harriotの手稿‘De Infinitis’を読む --翻刻と解釈 : 宇宙論に焦点を当てて--

Abstract

Thomas Harriot left his mathematical and also philosophical discussion on infinity and infinitesimal in relation to Aristotelian theory in his unpublished manuscripts titled ‘De Infinitis.’ Transcribing and analysing these manuscripts, I examine his cosmological concept expressed in them. Harriot starts his discussion with Aristotle's idea of continuity and contiguity, and proceeds to his discourse on infinity and infinitesimal in mathematical theory, both in algebra and geometry. He, from the viewpoint based on Aristotle's theory, advances his discussion to suggest, against Aristotle, that infinity exists not only in possibility but also in reality. He also considers ‘finitum’ and ‘infinitum, ’ and ‘minimum’ and ‘maximum, ’ which, he writes, concern both space and time, and he goes forward to the traditional problem of cosmology, whether the world is made from nothing or not. These discussions lead him to his theory that the infinite universe is made of the indivisible infinitesimal, atoms. In order to clarify his attitude to the concept of the universe in the transitional period of scientific revolution, I will consider Harriot‘s writings together with those of his contemporaries Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno.