The metaphysics of the calculus: A foundational debate in the Paris Academy of Sciences, 1700–1706

AbstractThe differential calculus faced a strong opposition within the Academy of Sciences of Paris at the very beginning of the 18th century. The opposition came from a group of mathematicians who criticized the new analysis both for what they considered to be its lack of rigor and for the results that it produced. A bitter debate raged for about 6 years until the proponents of the new calculus prevailed