"Thaumatopoiia" tra scienza e divertimento

Svetlana Hautala



Abstract:

Apart from presenting ancient conjurers as a professional group which made its bread on the deceit of the senses, this text also introduces the use of the image of the conjurer in the scientific discourse of Antiquity. An adversary could be called a conjurer, an insult which presupposes that a true man of the sciences does not cheat a crowd with illusions, but looks instead for the real causes of things and presents them openly and honestly. A contemporary case – a series of analogies between mathematics and the circus –, concludes the paper.

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