Anticipating The Analyst—Understanding Berkeley’s Early Mathematical Antagonism Through Contemporary Texts

BerkeleyBerkeley, George is best known to mathematiciansMathematics, history of and historians of mathematics for his interventions in the history of the Newton-Leibniz calculusDispute (Newton-Leibniz). The AnalystBerkeley, The Analyst was published in 1734 and was the subject of much discussion in the learned world—some of it highly contentious. In this article, the motivations for that critical work are explored through Berkeley’s earlier engagements with mathematicians and the status of their work in contemporary philosophy. It is argued that important anticipations of Berkeley’s animosity towards mathematics can be found in their nascent form in Berkeley’s early responses to contemporary mathematicians and mathematical philosophersPhilosophers, mathematical, such as John KeillKeill, John, Bernard NieuwentijtNieuwentijt, Bernard, Nicolas MalebrancheMalebranche, Nicolas and René DescartesDescartes, René. The Russell LibraryMaynooth, Russell Library boasts key holdings and early editions of texts that illustrate this trajectory, and by exploring their interconnections we can better understand the outright mathematical hostility eventually found in The Analyst and its epistolary aftermath.