From proportion to balance: The background to symmetry in science

Giora Hon; Bernard R. Goldstein

doi:10.1016/j.shpsa.2004.12.001

From proportion to balance: The background to symmetry in science

Giora Hon, Bernard R. Goldstein

Department of Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We call attention to the historical fact that the meaning of symmetry in antiquity - As it appears in Vitruvius's De architectura - Is entirely different from the modern concept. This leads us to the question, what is the evidence for the changes in the meaning of the term symmetry, and what were the different meanings attached to it? We show that the meaning of the term in an aesthetic sense gradually shifted in the context of architecture before the image of the balance was attached to the term in the middle of the 18th century and well before the first modern scientific usage by Legendre in 1794.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-21
Number of pages	21
Journal	Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A
Volume	36
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2004.12.001
State	Published - Mar 2005

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
One of us [G. H.] is grateful to Hans-Jörg Rheinberger of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, for the warm and generous hospitality, and to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for financial support, during a sojourn at the Institute.

Keywords

Balance in architecture
Charles-Louis de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
Claude Perrault
Symmetry
Vitruvius

ASJC Scopus subject areas

History
History and Philosophy of Science

Access to Document

10.1016/j.shpsa.2004.12.001

Cite this

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abstract = "We call attention to the historical fact that the meaning of symmetry in antiquity - As it appears in Vitruvius's De architectura - Is entirely different from the modern concept. This leads us to the question, what is the evidence for the changes in the meaning of the term symmetry, and what were the different meanings attached to it? We show that the meaning of the term in an aesthetic sense gradually shifted in the context of architecture before the image of the balance was attached to the term in the middle of the 18th century and well before the first modern scientific usage by Legendre in 1794.",

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From proportion to balance: The background to symmetry in science

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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