Lakatos and the Historical Approach to Philosophy of Mathematics

Donald Gillies

doi:10.1017/9781009430609

Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Mathematics

Lakatos and the Historical Approach to Philosophy of Mathematics

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 November 2023

Donald Gillies

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Donald Gillies: Affiliation:
University College London

Summary

The Element begins by claiming that Imre Lakatos (1922–74) in his famous paper 'Proofs and Refutations' (1963–64) was the first to introduce the historical approach to philosophy of mathematics. Section 2 gives a detailed analysis of Lakatos' ideas on the philosophy of mathematics. Lakatos died at the age of only 51, and at the time of this death had plans to continue his work on philosophy of mathematics which were never carried out. However, Lakatos' historical approach to philosophy of mathematics was taken up by other researchers in the field, and Sections 3 and 4 of the Element give an account of how they developed this approach. Then Section 5 gives an overview of what has been achieved so far by the historical approach to philosophy of mathematics and considers what its prospects for the future might be.

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Lakatos proofs and refutations revolutions in mathematics heuristics discovery axiomatic method

Type: Element
Information: Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Mathematics

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009430609 [Opens in a new window]

Online ISBN: 9781009430609

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication: 21 December 2023

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