Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Mathematics and the Making of the Catholic Enlightenment Massimo Mazzotti - Isis, Vol. 92, No. 4 (Dec 2001)

Agnesi’s personal life A child prodigy highly influenced by her father Her fathers will revolving around the goal to bear a coat of arms and the title Milanese Patrician - social enhancement Participation of salon culture that was where Maria Gaetana first showed her academic inclinations

Agnesi’s opinion of empirical knowledge The publication of an oration Agnesi presented on the prejudices of the studies of women Her philosophical theses that included the view that “only that in the realm of mathematics that true knowledge be derived with certainty that which is already known”

Agnesi’s turn to Mathematics Agnesi had to be pursuaded not to leave the salon culture in favour of a life in the cloister She eventually agreed and gave reason later in her life that “Man always acts to achieve goals; the goal of the Christian is the glory of God. I hope my studies have brought glory to God, as they were useful to others, and derived from obedience, because that was my father’s will.”

Features of Christianity at the time The “Catholic Enlightenment” - a multifaceted cultural and religious reformist movement “The necessity to reform teaching so as to include materials and methods from the modern sciences, but without altering the religious framework.” Return to the native language to establish the teaching of Christian doctrine

The unusual form of Agnesi’s textbook Material selection shaped by Agnesi’s belief in mathematics ability to provide truths through certainty of it’s subject matter Content shaped by Agnesi’s need to present her work within the traditional framework of religious knowledge Agnesi ignored problems that depended on the knowledge of physics

Agnesi’s abandonment of mathematics Agnesi fulfilled her wish of a more modest living to the extent of renouncing the palazzo and living in poverty This included her focus on the help and education of vulnerable social groups

Conclusion An enjoyable reminder of the historical variables that can be considered to provide a sound argument for events that occur in specific times and places In this case the unique socio-cultural conditions and personal life that enabled Agnesi to publish her popular calculus textbook in Northern Italy in 1748 Any Questions