%0 Journal Article
%T The Origin of Quantification
%A Edward MacKinnon
%J Open Journal of Philosophy
%P 6-9
%@ 2163-9442
%D 2013
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojpp.2013.34A002
%X Neither the Greek nor the Alexandrian nor the early Arabic philosopher/scientists ever developed a mathematical representation of qualities, a prerequisite for a mathematical physics. By the early seventeenth century the quantification of qualities was a common practice. This article traces the way this practice developed. It originated with a medievally theological problem and was developed by philosophical logicians who did not have mathematical physics as a goal. The verbal algebra they developed was given a mathematical formulation in the late fifteenth century. This was subsequently assimilated into a neo-Platonic revival that stressed mathematical forms. The quantification of qualities developed in physics supplied the paradigm for quantification in other fields.
%K Quantification
%K Early History of Physics
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=39957