SCHULTZ (Johann).
Versuch einer genauen Theorie des Unendlichen. Erster Theil [all published]. Vom Unendlichgroßen, und der Meßkunst desselben. Mit zwey Kupfertafeln.
A PRECUSOR TO CANTOR ON INFINITY
A rare work on the concept of infinity by Kant’s colleague at Königsberg, the professor of mathematics J.F. Schultz (1739-1805), an important precursor to Georg Cantor’s later work on the subject.
‘The bulk of Schultz’s literary efforts were concerned with mathematics, and with the explanation and exploration of Kant’s new critical system. Schultz’s mathematical writings include several successful textbooks, but of most interest is his work on the parallel lines postulate and [the present work] an essay on infinity which was an entrant for the 1786 Berlin Academy prize essay question asking for a ‘clear and precise theory of mathematical infinity’; although unsuccessful, this essay anticipated certain features of Cantor’s theory of transfinite numbers’ (Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers).
