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Peripatetic and Euclidean theories of the visual ray. (English) Zbl 0806.01003

After a short introduction the author casts doubts on the correctness of Heiberg’s contention: version \(A\) of Euclid’s ‘Optica’ is the essentially faithful transmitter of Euclid’s book, and version \(B\) is a revision of \(A\) due to Theon. The author is much more inclined to believe that for the greater part of the ‘Optica’ version \(B\) is prior to \(A\). In the remainder of his paper the author shows that not merely the general concept of a visual ray emitted from the eye, but also a kind of visual ray compatible with Euclid’s postulates, can be traced in the peripatetic natural philosophy of the generations preceding and contemporary with Euclid, that is, the late fourth and third centuries B. C.

MSC:

01A20 History of Greek and Roman mathematics

Keywords:

optics
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