Overview

Rarely has the history and philosophy of mathematics been written about by mathematicians, and the analysis of mathematical texts themselves has been an area almmost entirely unexplored. Figures of Thought looks at ways in which mathematical works can be read as texts and demonstrates that such readings provide a rich source of philosophical issues regarding mathematics: issues which traditional approaches to the history and philosophy of mathematics have neglected. David Reed offers the first sustained and critical attempt to find a consistent argument or narrative thread in mathematical texts. He selects mathematicians from a range of historical periods and compares their approaches to organizing and arguing texts, using an extended commentary of Euclid's Elements as a central structuring framework. In doing so he develops new and fascinating interpretations of mathematicians' work throughout history, from Descartes to Grothendieck and traces the implications of such an approach for the understanding of the history and development of mathematics.

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9780415081467

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Reviews

Figures of Thought is quite simply a wonderful book. An enormous amount of work has gone into it. The result is the sort of textbook which every philosopher of mathematics would like to have on their reference shelf. -Stuart G. Shanker, York University

'A remarkably wide-ranging discussion of the language, aims, and methods of geometry from Greek antiquity, via Descartes, up to Weil, Grothendeick, and beyond.' - David Fowler, University of Warwick

Figures of Thought is quite simply a wonderful book. An enormous amount of work has gone into it. The result is the sort of textbook which every philosopher of mathematics would like to have on their reference shelf. <br>-Stuart G. Shanker, York University <br>

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Reed, David

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