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1193Traditional logic and the early history of sets, 1854-1908Archive for History of Exact Sciences 50 (1): 5-71. 1996.
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328The Road to Modern Logic—An InterpretationBulletin of Symbolic Logic 7 (4): 441-484. 2001.This paper aims to outline an analysis and interpretation of the process that led to First-Order Logic and its consolidation as a core system of modern logic. We begin with an historical overview of landmarks along the road to modern logic, and proceed to a philosophical discussion casting doubt on the possibility of a purely rational justification of the actual delimitation of First-Order-Logic. On this basis, we advance the thesis that a certain historical tradition was essential to the emerge…Read more
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261Dogmas and the Changing Images of FoundationsPhilosophia Scientiae 27-42. 2005.I offer a critical review of several different conceptions of the activity of foundational research, from the time of Gauss to the present. These are (1) the traditional image, guiding Gauss, Dedekind, Frege and others, that sees in the search for more adequate basic systems a logical excavation of a priori structures, (2) the program to find sound formal systems for so-called classical mathematics that can be proved consistent, usually associated with the name of Hilbert, and (3) the historicis…Read more
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219Hilbert, logicism, and mathematical existenceSynthese 170 (1). 2009.David Hilbert’s early foundational views, especially those corresponding to the 1890s, are analysed here. I consider strong evidence for the fact that Hilbert was a logicist at that time, following upon Dedekind’s footsteps in his understanding of pure mathematics. This insight makes it possible to throw new light on the evolution of Hilbert’s foundational ideas, including his early contributions to the foundations of geometry and the real number system. The context of Dedekind-style logicism ma…Read more
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135The Motives Behind Cantor’s Set Theory: Physical, biological and philosophical questionsScience in Context 17 (1/2). 2004.The celebrated “creation” of transfinite set theory by Georg Cantor has been studied in detail by historians of mathematics. However, it has generally been overlooked that his research program cannot be adequately explained as an outgrowth of the mainstream mathematics of his day. We review the main extra-mathematical motivations behind Cantor's very novel research, giving particular attention to a key contribution, the Grundlagen (Foundations of a general theory of sets) of 1883, where those m…Read more
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135The Crisis in the Foundations of MathematicsIn Timothy Gowers (ed.), Princeton Companion to Mathematics, Princeton University Press. 2008.A general introduction to the celebrated foundational crisis, discussing how the characteristic traits of modern mathematics (acceptance of the notion of an “arbitrary” function proposed by Dirichlet; wholehearted acceptance of infinite sets and the higher infinite; a preference “to put thoughts in the place of calculations” and to concentrate on “structures” characterized axiomatically; a reliance on “purely existential” methods of proof) provoked extensive polemics and alternative approaches. …Read more
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116This book is part of a major project undertaken by the Centre for Studies in Civilizations , being one of a total of ninety-six planned volumes. The author is a statistician and computer scientist by training, who has concentrated on historical matters for the last ten years or so. The book has very ambitious aims, proposing an alternative philosophy of mathematics and a deviant history of the calculus. Throughout, there is an emphasis on the need to combine history and philosophy of mathematics…Read more
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111On arbitrary sets and ZFCBulletin of Symbolic Logic 17 (3): 361-393. 2011.Set theory deals with the most fundamental existence questions in mathematics—questions which affect other areas of mathematics, from the real numbers to structures of all kinds, but which are posed as dealing with the existence of sets. Especially noteworthy are principles establishing the existence of some infinite sets, the so-called “arbitrary sets.” This paper is devoted to an analysis of the motivating goal of studying arbitrary sets, usually referred to under the labels of quasi-combinato…Read more
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83Notes on types, sets, and logicism, 1930-1950Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 12 (1): 91-124. 1997.The present paper is a contribution to the history of logic and its philosophy toward the mid-20th century. It examines the interplay between logic, type theory and set theory during the 1930s and 40s, before the reign of first-order logic, and the closely connected issue of the fate of logicism. After a brief presentation of the emergence of logicism, set theory, and type theory, Quine’s work is our central concern, since he was seemingly the most outstanding logicist around 1940, though he wou…Read more
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80Conceptual StructuralismJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 54 (1): 125-148. 2023.This paper defends a conceptualistic version of structuralism as the most convincing way of elaborating a philosophical understanding of structuralism in line with the classical tradition. The argument begins with a revision of the tradition of “conceptual mathematics”, incarnated in key figures of the period 1850 to 1940 like Riemann, Dedekind, Hilbert or Noether, showing how it led to a structuralist methodology. Then the tension between the ‘presuppositionless’ approach of those authors, and …Read more
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69The Architecture of Modern Mathematics: Essays in History and Philosophy (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2006.This edited volume, aimed at both students and researchers in philosophy, mathematics and history of science, highlights leading developments in the overlapping areas of philosophy and the history of modern mathematics. It is a coherent, wide ranging account of how a number of topics in the philosophy of mathematics must be reconsidered in the light of the latest historical research and how a number of historical accounts can be deepened by embracing philosophical questions.
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69La lógica matemática: una disciplina en busca de encuadreTheoria 25 (3): 279-299. 2010.We offer an analysis of the disciplinary transformations underwent by mathematical or symbolic logic since its emergence in the late 19 th century. Examined are its origins as a hybrid of philosophy and mathematics, the maturity and institutionalisation attained under the label “logic and foundations,” a second wave of institutionalisation in the Postwar period, and the institutional developments since 1975 in connection with computer science and with the study of language and informatics. Altho…Read more
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68C.K. Raju. Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe in the 16th c. CE.: Critical Studies/Book Reviews (review)Philosophia Mathematica 17 (3): 378-381. 2009.This book is part of a major project undertaken by the Centre for Studies in Civilizations , being one of a total of ninety-six planned volumes. The author is a statistician and computer scientist by training, who has concentrated on historical matters for the last ten years or so. The book has very ambitious aims, proposing an alternative philosophy of mathematics and a deviant history of the calculus. Throughout, there is an emphasis on the need to combine history and philosophy of mathematics…Read more
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66A long-awaited edition of Zermelo’s works Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-4 DOI 10.1007/s11016-011-9548-y Authors José Ferreirós, Instituto de Filosofia, CCHS-CSIC, Albasanz, 26-28, 28037 Madrid, Spain Journal Metascience Online ISSN 1467-9981 Print ISSN 0815-0796.
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63Mathematical Knowledge and the Interplay of PracticesIn Mauricio Suárez, M. Dorato & M. Rédei (eds.), EPSA Philosophical Issues in the Sciences · Launch of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Springer. pp. 55--64. 2010.
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53PresentacionTheoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 17 (2): 209-219. 2002.
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52Uncertain FoundationsMetascience 13 (1): 79-82. 2004.Review of M. Giaquinto, The Search for Certainty: A Philosophical Account of Foundations of Mathematics (Osford, 2002).
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51Degrees of Objectivity? Mathemata and Social ObjectsTopoi 42 (1): 199-209. 2022.A down-to-earth admission of abstract objects can be based on detailed explanation of where the objectivity of mathematics comes from, and how a ‘thin’ notion of object emerges from objective mathematical discourse or practices. We offer a sketch of arguments concerning both points, as a basis for critical scrutiny of the idea that mathematical and social objects are essentially of the same kind—which is criticized. Some authors have proposed that mathematical entities are indeed institutional o…Read more
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48¿“Natural” y “Euclidiana”? Reflexiones sobre la geometría práctica y sus raíces cognitivasTheoria : An International Journal for Theory, History and Fundations of Science 33 (2): 325-344. 2018.We discuss critically some recent theses about geometric cognition, namely claims of universality made by Dehaene et al., and the idea of a “natural geometry” employed by Spelke et al. We offer arguments for the need to distinguish visuo-spatial cognition from basic geometric knowledge, furthermore we claim that the latter cannot be identified with Euclidean geometry. The main aim of the paper is to advance toward a characterization of basic, practical geometry – which in our view requires a com…Read more
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48Roi Wagner. Making and Breaking Mathematical Sense: Histories and Philosophies of Mathematical Practice (review)Philosophia Mathematica 26 (1): 131-136. 2018.© The Authors [2018]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected] mathematics a reflection of some already-given realm? It would not matter whether we are talking about the empirical world in a Millian way, or the domain of a priori truths in Leibnizian or maybe Kantian style, or some world of analytical truths à la Carnap. Or perhaps — could mathematics be something more, or something less, than such a reflection? Mig…Read more
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47Mathematical Knowledge and the Interplay of PracticesPrinceton University Press. 2015.On knowledge and practices: a manifesto -- The web of practices -- Agents and frameworks -- Complementarity in mathematics -- Ancient Greek mathematics: a role for diagrams -- Advanced math: the hypothetical conception -- Arithmetic certainty -- Mathematics developed: the case of the reals -- Objectivity in mathematical knowledge -- The problem of conceptual understanding
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46Hacia una filosofía de la experimentaciónCritica 34 (102): 47-86. 2002.El artículo intenta promover una recepción más amplia de los trabajos recientes sobre filosofía de la actividad científica experimental. Primero se comentarán los orígenes y las características de la tradición teoreticista predominante, criticando sus presupuestos y sus "miserias". Se analizará luego la función de los instrumentos, proponiendo una tipología de la actividad experimental, aunque elemental --esperamos-- útil. Tras analizar la estructura del experimento, empleando contribuciones de …Read more
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44The place of Richard Dedekind in the history of logicism is a controversial matter. The conception of logic incorporated in his work is certainly old-fashioned, in spite of innovative elements that would play an important role in late 19th and early 20th century discussions. Yet his understanding of logic and logicism remains of interest for the light it throws upon the development of modern logic in general, and logicist views of the foundations of mathematics in particular. The paper clarifies…Read more
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42From Gauss to Riemann Through Jacobi: Interactions Between the Epistemologies of Geometry and Mechanics?Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 51 (1): 147-172. 2020.The aim of this paper is to argue that there existed relevant interactions between mechanics and geometry during the first half of the nineteenth century, following a path that goes from Gauss to Riemann through Jacobi. By presenting a rich historical context we hope to throw light on the philosophical change of epistemological categories applied by these authors to the fundamental principles of both disciplines. We intend to show that presentations of the changing status of the principles of me…Read more
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40Beyond natural geometry: on the nature of proto-geometryPhilosophical Psychology 33 (2): 181-205. 2020.ABSTRACTWe discuss the thesis of universality of geometric notions and offer critical reflections on the concept of “natural geometry” employed by Spelke and others. Promoting interdisciplinary wor...
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36IntroductionJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 51 (1): 89-92. 2018.Guest Editors’ introduction to the Monographic Section.
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27Dedekind’s Map-theoretic PeriodPhilosophia Mathematica 25 (3). 2017.In 1887–1894, Richard Dedekind explored a number of ideas within the project of placing mappings at the very center of pure mathematics. We review two such initiatives: the introduction in 1894 of groups into Galois theory intrinsically via field automorphisms, and a new attempt to define the continuum via maps from ℕ to ℕ in 1891. These represented the culmination of Dedekind’s efforts to reconceive pure mathematics within a theory of sets and maps and throw new light onto the nature of his str…Read more