Can a mathematician be a philosopher?
Yes, if he has the ambition to work with such issues, as they are difficult. Alfred North Whitehead was both mathematician at Oxford (I believe) and at the end of his academic career he became a professor of philosophy. He was the last philosopher to attempt any kind of systematic metaphysics.
Why was mathematics so important for Greek philosophers?
Ancient Greek philosophers endeared to an understanding of nature and its natural order. They were drawn to similarities and differences of natural objects and natural patterns. From this they embraced mathematics for its ability to describe the natural, especially as geometric patterns.
Who was the great mathematician and philosopher?
Thales: often cited as the founder of philosophy, but also as the first one to use deductive reasoning in geometry. Anaximander: geometer, teacher of Pythagoras. Aristotle: founder of logic.
What two mathematicians discovered calculus independent of each other?
Calculus, known in its early history as infinitesimal calculus, is a mathematical discipline focused on limits, continuity, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz independently developed the theory of infinitesimal calculus in the later 17th century.
Are there any philosophers who are good at mathematics?
Plenty of philosophers have contributed to mathematics, and many have even been great mathematicians, here is a list of some (I will leave out contemporary philosophers of logic, unless they have contributed to the foundations of logic):
Who is the most famous mathematician of all time?
Thales: often cited as the founder of philosophy, but also as the first one to use deductive reasoning in geometry. Anaximander: geometer, teacher of Pythagoras. Aristotle: founder of logic. Not much of a mathematician otherwise though. René Descartes: developed analytic geometry.
What is the relationship between mathematics and philosophy?
In more modern times, certain areas of mathematics overlap with certain areas of philosophy: specifically, logic, set theory, theoretical computer science and quantum mechanics overlap with questions of epistemology and the philosophy of physics and math itself. Leibniz and Russell may be good examples here.
Was Pythagoras the first famous mathematician?
In any case, Pythagoras is one of the earliest mathematicians and philosophers worth talking about. Early philosophers such as Thales, Anaximander, Anaximines (all from Miletus, Greece) have grappled with the “problem of the nature of the universe” (Frost, 1989, p. 6).