ABSTRACT
The seventeenth century was a crucial period in the history of the understanding of mathematics and geometry. At issue were, first, the elevation of mathematics to pre-eminent status as a science and, second, the challenge by the Parisian mathematicians to the traditional metaphysical understanding, resulting in a contest between certainty and truth. Drawing on texts from the period, Vesely shows how the elevation of mathematics within the Jesuit tradition laid the ground for the Parisian mathematics, against which the later Jesuits felt obliged to respond, striving to preserve the symbolic understanding. He concludes with the mathematisation of movement, so critical to Baroque architectural order, developing the consequences in the writing and architecture of Guarino Guarini.
