Includes bibliographical references and index.

Front Matter -- Frontispiece -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Foreword / Philip Beeley -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Illustrations -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- John Wallis’s Academic Formation -- Introduction to Part 1 -- John Wallis’s Autobiography: Text and Context -- Early Life and Education -- The Foundation of a Career -- Conclusion to Part 1 -- John Wallis’s Academic Career -- Introduction to Part 2 -- Mathematical Lecturer -- Doctor of Divinity -- Pedagogue, Pastor, and Protector -- Conclusion to Part 2 -- John Wallis’s Philosophical Method -- Introduction to Part 3 -- Mathematical Method -- The Languages of Philosophy -- Conclusion to Part 3 -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index.

Distinctions of Reason and Reasonable Distinctions is an intellectual biography of John Wallis (1616-1703), professor of mathematics at Oxford for over half a century. His career spans the political tumult of the English Civil Wars, the religious upheaval of the Church of England, and the fascinating developments in mathematics and natural philosophy. His ability to navigate this terrain and advance human learning in the academic world was facilitated by his use of the Jesuit Francisco Suarez’s theory of distinctions. This Roman Catholic’s philosophy in the hands of a Protestant divine fostered an instrumentalism necessary to bridge the old and new. With this tool, Wallis brought modern science into the university and helped form the Royal Society.