Recently, debates about mathematical structuralism have picked up steam again within the philosophy of mathematics, probing ontological and epistemological issues in novel ways. These debates build on discussions of structuralism which began in the 1960s in the work of philosophers such as Paul Benacerraf and Hilary Putnam; going further than these previous thinkers, however, these new debates also recognize that the motivation for structuralist views should be tied to methodological developments within mathematics. In fact, practically all relevant ideas and methods have roots in the structuralist transformation that modern mathematics underwent in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
This edited volume of new essays by top scholars in the philosophy of mathematics explores this previously overlooked 'pre-history' of mathematical structuralism. The contributors explore this historical background along two distinct but interconnected dimensions. First, they reconsider the methodological contributions of major figures in the history of mathematics, such as Dedekind, Hilbert, and Bourbaki, who are responsible for the introduction of new number systems, algebras, and geometries that transformed the landscape of mathematics. Second, they reexamine a range of philosophical reflections by mathematically inclined philosophers, like Russell, Cassirer, and Quine, whose work led to profound conclusions about logical, epistemological, and metaphysical aspects of structuralism.
Overall, the essays in this volume show not only that the pre-history of mathematical structuralism is much richer than commonly appreciated, but also that it is crucial to take into account this broader intellectual history for enriching current debates in the philosophy of mathematics. The insights included in this volume will interest scholars and students in the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of science, and the history of philosophy.
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
Author(s): Erich H. Reck, Georg Schiemer
Series: Logic and Computation in Philosophy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 465
Cover
Title Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Contributors
1 Introduction and Overview
I. Mathematical Developments
2. Grassmann’s Concept Structuralism
3. Dedekind’s Mathematical Structuralism: From Galois Theory to Numbers, Sets, and Functions
4. Pasch’s Empiricism as Methodological Structuralism
5. Transfer Principles, Klein’s Erlangen Program, and Methodological Structuralism
6. The Ways of Hilbert’s Axiomatics: Structural and Formal
7. Noether as Mathematical Structuralist
8. The Functional Role of Structures in Bourbaki
9. Saunders Mac Lane: From Principia Mathematica through Göttingen to the Working Theory of Structures
II. Logical and Philosophical Reflections
10. Logic of Relations and Diagrammatic Reasoning: Structuralist Elements in the Work of Charles Sanders Peirce
11. Poincaré and the Prehistory of Mathematical Structuralism
12. “If Numbers Are to Be Anything At All, They Must Be Intrinsically Something”: Bertrand Russell and Mathematical Structuralism
13. Cassirer’s Reception of Dedekind and the Structuralist Transformation of Mathematics
14. Methodological Frames: Paul Bernays, Mathematical Structuralism, and Proof Theory
15. Carnap’s Structuralist Thesis
16. Explication as Elimination: W. V. Quine and Mathematical Structuralism
Name Index
Subject Index
