A lecture in 1954 by Alexander Koyrè on Pascal savant unfortunately produced a long-lasting underestimation of Pascal’s contribution to the history of science and mainly to the history of physics. Here, I would like to analyze his intertwined contributions in physics, mathematics, cosmology and epistemology. In particular, I will show the relevance of Pascal's experiments on le vide dans le vide to give a foundation to the new atomistic physics. Skeptical arguments were translated by Pascal in a "relativistic cosmology". The limits of reason and of human knowledge were symbolically expressed and mathematically led to a rigorous awareness with the developing of a “proto-calculus” of probability which distinguishes the uncertainty of our knowledge in its only and ever partial “provability”. One can recognize the existence of a Pascalian probabilistic mathesis opposed to Descartes' one: since quantum physics, it would be accepted as distinguishing the new science of the twentieth century.

(2018). Pascal's Physics, Mathematics and Cosmology [journal article - articolo]. In PHYSIS, RIVISTA INTERNAZIONALE DI STORIA DELLA SCIENZA. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/135454

Pascal's Physics, Mathematics and Cosmology

Giannetto, Enrico
2018-01-01

Abstract

A lecture in 1954 by Alexander Koyrè on Pascal savant unfortunately produced a long-lasting underestimation of Pascal’s contribution to the history of science and mainly to the history of physics. Here, I would like to analyze his intertwined contributions in physics, mathematics, cosmology and epistemology. In particular, I will show the relevance of Pascal's experiments on le vide dans le vide to give a foundation to the new atomistic physics. Skeptical arguments were translated by Pascal in a "relativistic cosmology". The limits of reason and of human knowledge were symbolically expressed and mathematically led to a rigorous awareness with the developing of a “proto-calculus” of probability which distinguishes the uncertainty of our knowledge in its only and ever partial “provability”. One can recognize the existence of a Pascalian probabilistic mathesis opposed to Descartes' one: since quantum physics, it would be accepted as distinguishing the new science of the twentieth century.
articolo
2018
Giannetto, Enrico
(2018). Pascal's Physics, Mathematics and Cosmology [journal article - articolo]. In PHYSIS, RIVISTA INTERNAZIONALE DI STORIA DELLA SCIENZA. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10446/135454
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