3 - The Promotion of Mathematics

Summary

Introduction

Christopher Clavius (1537–1612) was a Jesuit astronomer and mathematician who taught in the order's Collegio Romano (from 1565 to his death). His importance was due in part to the influential textbooks he published and to his training of numerous professors of mathematics who went on to teach in other Jesuit colleges (such as La Flèche, where Descartes was educated). John Pell, writing to Charles Cavendish about a meeting with Descartes in 1646, relates that “He [Descartes] says he had no other instructor for Algrebra [sic] than y^e reading of Clavy Algebra above 30 yeares agoe,” that is, his reading of Clavius' Algebra before 1616, when he was a student at La Flèche. In 1586, the Jesuits, having decided to reorganize and standardize their collegiate curriculum, carried on significant debates about teaching, the importance of various disciplines to learning, and their relations with each other. These position papers (or Monumenta paedagogica) resulted in the order's set curriculum (Ratio studiorum). The following pedagogical paper was written by Clavius for this occasion.