review:
* Michel Moreau, “M.-L. Guerard des Lauriers, La mathématique. Les mathématiques. La mathématique moderne,” Revue Philosophique de Louvain 72, no. 15 (1974): 586–587.
Moreau says Des Lauriers polemically argues against "ensemblisme" ("set-theory-ification of math"): « À bas l'ensemblisme; et, alors, vive Bourbaki! » and in favor of viewing math in terms of relation. The goal of math is not self-consistency, but ultimately the contemplation of God.
good brief bio of Bp. des Lauriers: p. 35fn3 of this
Guérard des Lauriers, O.P. is well-known among French Thomists, and he's a fascinating character. He studied mathematics with big-wigs like Levi-Civita and Cartan, obtaining his degree at the École Normale Supérieure : Sur les systèmes différentiels du second ordre qui admettent un groupe continu fini de transformations (MathSciNet review). He was a consultant to Pius XII on the Assumption, and some think he drafted Munificentissimus Deus. He helped write the Ottaviani Intervention. He devised the sedeprivationism (a.k.a. the "Cassiciacum" or papa materialiter ) thesis. He was consecrated a bishop by Abp. Thuc, on the prevision that he be sedevacantists, but then he returned to defending sedeprivationism. Here're some books by or on him:
- Le mystère de l'être : l'approche thomiste de Guérard des Lauriers : avec la traduction de tous les textes où saint Thomas traite de la "nature de l'être" by Louis-Marie de Blignières
- La mathématique, les mathématiques, la mathématique moderne by M.-L Guérard des Lauriers
his dissertation under Élie Cartan at ENS is 1940; he was classmates with Levi-Civita and André Weil. He worked on his doctorate in mathematics after obtaining degrees in theology.
some interesting PDFs on him:
