Tentamen Theoriam Heuristicae generalis adumbrandi, Principiis Philosophiae recentioris superstructum. Meditamentum philosophicum quod strenuis veritatis sectatoribus ventilandum exhibet Carolus Ferdinandus Degen, Celsissimi Principis, Frideric Ferdinandi Praeceptor.
Havniae: J.H. Schubothe, 1798. [viii], 94, [1] pp.
Latin text. Contemporary full tree calf. A beautiful copy with clean interior.
INSCRIBED in Latin by Degen «[…] Sirus, the most excellent philosopher, the most ingenious of the geometers, the saint, and the first kind patron […]».
Carl Ferdinand Degen [1766-1825], Danish mathematician. He tutored the future king of Denmark in mathematics. Degen has been given the honor of having introduced higher mathematics into the Danish school system and thus also partially into the Norwegian. He guided the great Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, who presented some of his first mathematical results in letters to Degen. Abel’s studies of elliptic functions are probably due to Degen’s influence.
«Tentamen Theoriam Heuristicae generalis adumbrandi […]», a work which joins Kant’s philosophy, earned Degen a doctorate in philosophy.