Originally published on January 12, 2022 (Episode 238)
Introduction
In February 1853, Augustus De Morgan, Professor of Mathematics at University College London, drew the last in a series of diagrams illustrating logical syllogisms. At its center was the face, in Joan L. Richards’s words, of “a calmly alert being.” For De Morgan, this fusion of the human and divine in logical space expressed his aspiration to map reason itself—a reason capacious enough to encompass both human and divine minds.
De Morgan was one of several remarkable figures whose lives—family, intellectual, and spiritual—Richards explores in Generations of Reason: A Family Search for Meaning in Post-Newtonian England (Yale University Press, 2021). In her telling, the pursuit of reason is not an abstract philosophy but a lived inheritance, one that shaped responses to both the great events of English cultural and political history and the quieter corners of personal life.
About the Guest
Joan L. Richards is emeritus professor of history at Brown University, where she directed the Program of Sciences, Society, and Technology. Her research has centered on the intersection of mathematics, logic, science, and religious thought in 18th- and 19th-century Britain.
For Further Investigation
Joan L. Richards, Generations of Reason: A Family Search for Meaning in Post-Newtonian England (Yale University Press, 2021)
William Frend, Evening Amusements, or, the Beauty of the Heavens Displayed (1804)
A short biography of Augustus De Morgan (MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St. Andrews)
💬 Listen & Discuss
De Morgan’s diagrams reflected an attempt to reconcile human and divine reason. Do you think reason can ever bridge that gap—or are we always bounded by our humanity? Share your thoughts in the comments, and pass this conversation along to a friend who loves logic, science, or Victorian history.
💌 Subscribe
➡️ Subscribe to Historically Thinking for more conversations where history, science, and philosophy meet.
