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64Against Against IntuitionismSynthese 147 (1): 171-188. 2005.The main ideas behind Brouwer’s philosophy of Intuitionism are presented. Then some critical remarks against Intuitionism made by William Tait in “Against Intuitionism” [Journal of Philosophical Logic, 12, 173–195] are answered.
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85Dedekind's Abstract Concepts: Models and MappingsPhilosophia Mathematica (3). 2014.Dedekind's mathematical work is integral to the transformation of mathematics in the nineteenth century and crucial for the emergence of structuralist mathematics in the twentieth century. We investigate the essential components of what Emmy Noether called, his ‘axiomatic standpoint’: abstract concepts, models, and mappings.
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83Modeling ancient and modern arithmetic practices: Addition and multiplication with Arabic and Roman numeralsIn B. C. Love, K. McRae & V. M. Sloutsky (eds.), Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society., Cognitive Science Society. pp. 2097--2102. 2008.To analyze the task of mental arithmetic with external representations in different number systems we model algorithms for addition and multiplication with Arabic and Roman numerals. This demonstrates that Roman numerals are not only informationally equivalent to Arabic ones but also computationally similar—a claim that is widely disputed. An analysis of our models' elementary processing steps reveals intricate tradeoffs between problem representation, algorithm, and interactive resources. Our s…Read more
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118Conceptual Metaphors and Mathematical Practice: On Cognitive Studies of Historical Developments in MathematicsTopics in Cognitive Science 5 (2): 283-298. 2013.This article looks at recent work in cognitive science on mathematical cognition from the perspective of history and philosophy of mathematical practice. The discussion is focused on the work of Lakoff and Núñez, because this is the first comprehensive account of mathematical cognition that also addresses advanced mathematics and its history. Building on a distinction between mathematics as it is presented in textbooks and as it presents itself to the researcher, it is argued that the focus of c…Read more
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135On the creative role of axiomatics. The discovery of lattices by Schröder, Dedekind, Birkhoff, and othersSynthese 183 (1): 47-68. 2011.Three different ways in which systems of axioms can contribute to the discovery of new notions are presented and they are illustrated by the various ways in which lattices have been introduced in mathematics by Schröder et al. These historical episodes reveal that the axiomatic method is not only a way of systematizing our knowledge, but that it can also be used as a fruitful tool for discovering and introducing new mathematical notions. Looked at it from this perspective, the creative aspect of…Read more
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44José Ferreirós. Mathematical Knowledge and the Interplay of Practices (review)Philosophia Mathematica 25 (1): 139-143. 2017.
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60Axiomatics and progress in the light of 20th century philosophy of science and mathematicsIn Benedikt Löwe, Volker Peckhaus & T. Rasch (eds.), Foundations of the Formal Sciences IV, College Publications. 2006.This paper is a contribution to the question of how aspects of science have been perceived through history. In particular, I will discuss how the contribution of axiomatics to the development of science and mathematics was viewed in 20th century philosophy of science and philosophy of mathematics. It will turn out that in connection with scientific methodology, in particular regarding its use in the context of discovery, axiomatics has received only very little attention. This is a rather surpris…Read more
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88Dedekind’s Analysis of Number: Systems and AxiomsSynthese 147 (1): 121-170. 2005.Wilfred Sieg and Dirk Schlimm. Dedekind's Analysis of Number: Systems and Axioms
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58Mathematical Concepts and Investigative PracticeIn Uljana Feest & Friedrich Steinle (eds.), Scientific Concepts and Investigative Practice, De Gruyter. pp. 127-148. 2012.In this paper I investigate two notions of concepts that have played a dominant role in 20th century philosophy of mathematics. According to the first, concepts are definite and fixed; in contrast, according to the second notion concepts are open and subject to modifications. The motivations behind these two incompatible notions and how they can be used to account for conceptual change are presented and discussed. On the basis of historical developments in mathematics I argue that both notions o…Read more
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39Book review of Kevin Possin, "Critical Thinking" (review)Teaching Philosophy 26 (3): 305-307. 2003.
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31The Marriott Hotel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania December 27–30, 2008Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 15 (2). 2009.
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121Pasch’s philosophy of mathematicsReview of Symbolic Logic 3 (1): 93-118. 2010.Moritz Pasch (1843ber neuere Geometrie (1882), in which he also clearly formulated the view that deductions must be independent from the meanings of the nonlogical terms involved. Pasch also presented in these lectures the main tenets of his philosophy of mathematics, which he continued to elaborate on throughout the rest of his life. This philosophy is quite unique in combining a deductivist methodology with a radically empiricist epistemology for mathematics. By taking into consideration publi…Read more
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170Learning from the existence of models: On psychic machines, tortoises, and computer simulationsSynthese 169 (3). 2009.Using four examples of models and computer simulations from the history of psychology, I discuss some of the methodological aspects involved in their construction and use, and I illustrate how the existence of a model can demonstrate the viability of a hypothesis that had previously been deemed impossible on a priori grounds. This shows a new way in which scientists can learn from models that extends the analysis of Morgan (1999), who has identified the construction and manipulation of models as…Read more
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168Axioms in Mathematical PracticePhilosophia Mathematica 21 (1): 37-92. 2013.On the basis of a wide range of historical examples various features of axioms are discussed in relation to their use in mathematical practice. A very general framework for this discussion is provided, and it is argued that axioms can play many roles in mathematics and that viewing them as self-evident truths does not do justice to the ways in which mathematicians employ axioms. Possible origins of axioms and criteria for choosing axioms are also examined. The distinctions introduced aim at clar…Read more
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65The Cognitive Advantages of Counting Specifically: A Representational Analysis of Verbal Numeration Systems in Oceanic LanguagesTopics in Cognitive Science 7 (4): 552-569. 2015.The domain of numbers provides a paradigmatic case for investigating interactions of culture, language, and cognition: Numerical competencies are considered a core domain of knowledge, and yet the development of specifically human abilities presupposes cultural and linguistic input by way of counting sequences. These sequences constitute systems with distinct structural properties, the cross-linguistic variability of which has implications for number representation and processing. Such represent…Read more
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48Methodological Reflections on Typologies for Numerical NotationsScience in Context 25 (2): 155-195. 2012.Past and present societies world-wide have employed well over 100 distinct notational systems for representing natural numbers, some of which continue to play a crucial role in intellectual and cultural development today. The diversity of these notations has prompted the need for classificatory schemes, or typologies, to provide a systematic starting point for their discussion and appraisal. The present paper provides a general framework for assessing the efficacy of these typologies relative to…Read more
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56Metaphors for Mathematics from Pasch to HilbertPhilosophia Mathematica 24 (3): 308-329. 2016.How mathematicians conceive of the nature of mathematics is reflected in the metaphors they use to talk about it. In this paper I investigate a change in the use of metaphors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, I argue that the metaphor of mathematics as a tree was used systematically by Pasch and some of his contemporaries, while that of mathematics as a building was deliberately chosen by Hilbert to reflect a different view of mathematics. By taking these metap…Read more
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45Formal Languages in Logic. A Philosophical and Cognitive Analysis (review)History and Philosophy of Logic 35 (1): 1-3. 2014.History and Philosophy of Logic, Volume 35, Issue 1, Page 108-110, February 2014
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128Two Ways of Analogy: Extending the Study of Analogies to Mathematical DomainsPhilosophy of Science 75 (2): 178-200. 2008.The structure-mapping theory has become the de-facto standard account of analogies in cognitive science and philosophy of science. In this paper I propose a distinction between two kinds of domains and I show how the account of analogies based on structure-preserving mappings fails in certain (object-rich) domains, which are very common in mathematics, and how the axiomatic approach to analogies, which is based on a common linguistic description of the analogs in terms of laws or axioms, can be …Read more
Montreal, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mathematics |
General Philosophy of Science |
History of Mathematics |
Mathematical Practice |
Areas of Interest
History of Logic |
19th Century Logic |
History of Mathematics |
Mathematical Practice |