Universal science

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Universal science (German : Universalwissenschaft; Latin : scientia generalis, scientia universalis) is a branch of metaphysics. [1] In the work of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the universal science is the true logic. [2] [3] [4] The idea of establishing a universal science originated in the seventeenth century with philosophers Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes. [5] Bacon and Descartes conceptualized universal science as a unified approach to collect scientific information similar to encyclopedias of universal knowledge but were unsuccessful. [5] Leibniz extended their ideas to use logic as an "index" to order universal scientific and mathematical information [5] as an operational system with a universal language. [6] Plato's system of idealism, formulated using the teachings of Socrates, is a predecessor to the concept of universal science and influenced Leibniz' s views against materialism in favor of logic. [7] It emphasizes on the first principles which appear to be the reasoning behind everything, emerging and being in state with everything. This mode of reasoning had a supporting influence on great scientists such as Boole, Frege, Cantor, Hilbert, Gödel, and Turing. [8] All of these great minds shared a similar dream, vision or belief in a future where universal computing would eventually change everything. [9]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz</span> German mathematician and philosopher (1646–1716)

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<i>Mathesis universalis</i>

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The calculus ratiocinator is a theoretical universal logical calculation framework, a concept described in the writings of Gottfried Leibniz, usually paired with his more frequently mentioned characteristica universalis, a universal conceptual language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Davis (mathematician)</span> American mathematician (1928–2023)

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The Latin term characteristica universalis, commonly interpreted as universal characteristic, or universal character in English, is a universal and formal language imagined by Gottfried Leibniz able to express mathematical, scientific, and metaphysical concepts. Leibniz thus hoped to create a language usable within the framework of a universal logical calculation or calculus ratiocinator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conatus</span> Innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joachim Jungius</span>

Joachim Jungius was a German mathematician, logician and philosopher of science.

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References

  1. Osminskaya, Natalia A. (2018). "Historical roots of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's universal science". Epistemology & Philosophy of Science. 55 (2): 165–179. doi:10.5840/eps201855236.
  2. Franz Exner, "Über Leibnitz'ens Universal-Wissenschaft", Prague, 1843
  3. "Universalwissenschaft": entry in the Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon
  4. Stanley Burris, "Leibniz's Influence on 19th Century Logic", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  5. 1 2 3 McRae, Robert (1957). "The Unity of the Sciences: Bacon, Descartes, and Leibniz". Journal of the History of Ideas. 18 (1): 48. doi:10.2307/2707578. JSTOR   2707578.
  6. Schrecker, Paul (1947). "Leibniz and the Art of Inventing Algorisms". Journal of the History of Ideas. 8 (1): 109. doi:10.2307/2707443. JSTOR   2707443.
  7. Grosholz, Emily (1996). "Plato and Leibniz against the Materialists". Journal of the History of Ideas. 57 (2): 255–276. doi:10.1353/jhi.1996.0016. S2CID   170105779 via JSTOR.
  8. Kossak, Roman. “The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing by Martin Davis: THIRD EDITION. BOCA RATON, FL: CRC PRESS, 2018, XV + 222 PP., US $35.96, ISBN 978-1-138-50208-6.” Mathematical Intelligencer 41, no. 2 (June 2019): 78–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00283-018-09860-w.
  9. Davis, Martin. “The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing.” The American Mathematical Monthly 109 (June 1, 2002). https://doi.org/10.2307/2695463.