The nature of mathematical knowledge

✍ Scribed by Kitcher P.

• Publisher: OUP
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 300
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book argues against the view that mathematical knowledge is a priori, contending that mathematics is an empirical science and develops historically, just as natural sciences do. Kitcher presents a complete, systematic, and richly detailed account of the nature of mathematical knowledge and its historical development, focusing on such neglected issues as how and why mathematical language changes, why certain questions assume overriding importance, and how standards of proof are modified.

✦ Table of Contents

Title ......Page 3
Copyright ......Page 4
Dedication ......Page 5
Preface ......Page 7
Acknowledgments ......Page 9
Contents ......Page 11
Introduction ......Page 15
1 Epistemological Preliminaries ......Page 25
2 The Apriorist Program ......Page 48
3 Mathematical Intuition ......Page 61
4 Conceptualism ......Page 77
5 Toward a Defensible Empiricism ......Page 100
6 Mathematical Reality ......Page 113
7 Mathematical Change and Scientific Change ......Page 161
8 Mathematical Changes ......Page 190
9 Patterns of Mathematical Change ......Page 205
10 The Development of Analysis: A Case Study ......Page 241
Bibliography ......Page 284
Index ......Page 293