Lachman quotes Jacques Barzun (referencing Pascal): “the spirit of geometry ‘works with exact definitions and abstractions in science or mathematics’, while the spirit of finesse ‘works with ideas and perceptions not capable of exact definition’”.But not all of Pascal’s contemporaries, nor Barzun’s in our own time, appreciate and realize this distinction.
This is an outstanding review. I have already got the Kindle version of Lachman’s book. Do read as eell the review linked to toward the end of this one.
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