Overview

"The publication of Kuhn's ""The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"" in 1962 led to an exciting discussion of revolutions in the natural sciences. A fascinating, but little known, off-shoot of this was a debate which began in the United States in the mid-1970s as to whether the concept of revolution could be applied to mathematics as well as science. Michael Grove declared that revolutions never occur in mathematics, while Joseph Dauben argued that there have been mathematical revolutions and gave some examples. This book is a comprehensive examination of the question. It reprints the original papers of Grove, Dauben, and Mehrtens, together with additional chapters giving their current views. To this are added new contributions from nine further experts in the history of mathematics, who each discuss an important episode and consider whether it was a revolution. The whole question of mathematical revolutions is thus examined coprehensively, and from a variety of theoretical perspectives."

Full Product Details

Author:   D.A. Gillies
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Clarendon Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.00cm , Height: 2.60cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.765kg
ISBN:  

9780198539407

ISBN 10:   0198539401
Pages:   363
Publication Date:   01 July 1992
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

"Ten ""laws"" concerning patterns of change in the history of mathematics 1975, Michael Crowe; T.S. Kuhn's theories and mathematics - a discussion paper on the new historiography of mathematics 1976, Herbert Mehrtens; appendix 1992 - revolutions reconsidered, Herbert Mehrtens; conceptual revolutions and the history of mathematics - two studies in the growth of knowledge 1984, Joseph Dauben; appendix 1992 - revolutions revisisted, Joseph Dauben; Descartes' geometrie and revolutions in mathematics, Paolo Mancosu; was Leibniz a mathematical revolutionary?, Emily Grosholz; the ""fine structure"" of mathematical revolutions - metaphysics, legitimacy, and rigour - the case of the calculus from Newton to Berkeley and MacLaurin, Giulio Giorelio;; non-Euclidean geometry and revolutions in mathematics, Yuxin Zheng; the ""revolution"" in the geometrical vision of space in the 19th century and the hermeneutical epistemology of mathematics, Luciano Boi; meta-level revolutions in mathematics, Caroline Dunmore; the 19th century-revolution in mathematical ontology, Jeremy Gray; a restoration that failed - Paul Finsler's theory of sets, Herbert Breger; the Fregean revolution in logic, Donald Gillies; afterword 1982 - a revolution in the historiography of mathematics?, Michael Crowe."

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