Gaston Milhaud

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Gaston Samuel Milhaud (born August 10, 1858 in Nîmes , † October 1, 1918 in Paris ) was a French mathematician, science theorist and science historian .

Act

Milhaud studied mathematics with Gaston Darboux at the École normal supérieure with the agrégation in mathematics in 1881 and was then a high school teacher (professor) in Le Havre until 1909 , where he began to be very interested in the history of science and especially ancient Greek science through the encounter with Pierre Janet . From 1891 he was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Montpellier and gave a series of lectures on the origins of Greek science, which were published in 1893. In 1894 he received his doctorate in Paris with a thesis on the limits of the security of logic, which soon after its publication experienced several editions and established its reputation. In 1895 he became professor of philosophy in Montpellier. From 1909 he was professor of philosophy at the Paris Sorbonne at the chair for "Philosophy and its relations to the exact sciences", which was set up especially for him.

Milhaud belonged to a group of scientists who largely rejected empirical studies and the positivism widespread in France . The spontaneity of the mind is in the foreground of his considerations. In his opinion, only a firm orientation to basic mathematical principles leads to absolute certainty. With his mindset, Milhaud was one of the founders of conventionalism . As a science historian, he dealt with Zeno of Elea , among others, and as a science philosopher, he dealt with logical contradictions and the role of demonstration and evidence in mathematics and physics. His preoccupation with the history of science was closely linked to philosophical considerations about the fundamentals of the respective field. Although he was mainly concerned with ancient Greek science, he was also responsible for a renewed interest in René Descartes as a scientist.

He is a neo-Kantian and is attributed to neo-criticism .

His son Gérard Milhaud worked with Charles Adam on the edition of Descartes' letters.

Works (in selection)

  • Leçons sur le origines de la science grecque , Paris 1893
  • Essai sur le conditions et les limtes de la certitude logique , Paris 1894, 4th edition 1924
  • Le rationnel , Paris 1898
  • Les philosophes-géomètres de la Grèce. Platon et es prédéceseurs , Paris 1900
  • Le positivisme et le progrès d'esprit (Études critiques sur Auguste Comte) , Paris 1902
  • Études sur la pensée scientifique chez le Grecs et chez les modern , Paris 1906
  • Descartes savant , Paris 1920
  • Nouvelles études sur l'histoire de la pensée scientifique , Paris 1911
  • Études sur Cournot , Paris 1927
  • La philosophie de Charles Renouvier , Paris 1927

literature

personal data
SURNAME Milhaud, Gaston
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Milhaud, Gaston Samuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French science theorist and science historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Nîmes
DATE OF DEATH October 1, 1918
Place of death Paris