TY - CHAP
T1 - Sight and the pers pectives of mathematics
T2 - The limits of ancient optics
AU - Netz, Reviel
AU - Squire, Michael
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Michael Squire for selection and editorial matter.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Within a book on Sight and the Ancient Senses, all manner of Graeco-Roman materials can be called upon as evidence - among them, philosophical discourses about seeing and knowing, visible objects which play out the dynamics of spectatorship and literary texts exploring sight in relation to (for example) hearing or reading. When approached from a global comparative perspective, however, one of classical antiquity’s most original contributions was to conceive of sight mathematically. “Optics” is the word usually associated with this tradition, derived from the Greek term for “appearances” or “looks” (ta optika). Fundamental to ancient optics were ideas about reflection and refraction. Yet what ultimately defines this optical tradition, and what differentiates it from more philosophical modes (as introduced in the previous two chapters), is its “geometrical” approach: sight could be theorized in terms of mathematical relationships - that is, by determining the angles at which rays of light were emitted from either the eye or the perceived object.1.
AB - Within a book on Sight and the Ancient Senses, all manner of Graeco-Roman materials can be called upon as evidence - among them, philosophical discourses about seeing and knowing, visible objects which play out the dynamics of spectatorship and literary texts exploring sight in relation to (for example) hearing or reading. When approached from a global comparative perspective, however, one of classical antiquity’s most original contributions was to conceive of sight mathematically. “Optics” is the word usually associated with this tradition, derived from the Greek term for “appearances” or “looks” (ta optika). Fundamental to ancient optics were ideas about reflection and refraction. Yet what ultimately defines this optical tradition, and what differentiates it from more philosophical modes (as introduced in the previous two chapters), is its “geometrical” approach: sight could be theorized in terms of mathematical relationships - that is, by determining the angles at which rays of light were emitted from either the eye or the perceived object.1.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85046263167&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.4324/9781315719238-10
DO - 10.4324/9781315719238-10
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85046263167
SN - 9781844658657
SP - 68
EP - 84
BT - Sight and the Ancient Senses
PB - Taylor and Francis Inc.
ER -