![]() ![]() ![]() The idea of mathematics and natural philosophy as elite practices that allowed access to ‘secrets’ was common but controversial in the early modern period. In natural philosophy, we find a similar dynamic at work: nature was conceived of as a book, written in a code that only the elite would be able to break. This shared ability to reach the same secret often constituted tight social ties – of friendship or of rivalry. Only the best practitioners were able to discover the secret or ‘crack the code’. It was common in the early modern period to publicize only a mathematical problem, while the solution was carefully guarded by the challenger. Difficult mathematical challenges are another example of elite secrecy. 34 It was a standard remark in esoteric traditions that only the worthy would find out the secrets carefully veiled in esoteric texts. ![]()
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