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Book Review: The limits of pluralism. Bharath Sriraman (Ed.) (2017) Humanizing mathematics and its philosophy: Essays celebrating the 90th birthday of Reuben Hersh

Basel: Birkhäuser. 363 pages. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-61231-7 Hardcover: ISBN: 978-3-319-61230-0. eBook: ISBN: 978-3-319-61231-7

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Notes

  1. References solely by the name of the author refer to chapters in the book being reviewed.

  2. A wonderful example of this is the piece by Elena Marchisotto, exploring the “backside” of an episode of the history of mathematics—the Bézout theorem—in order to illustrate the social nature of mathematics and the different avenues that emerge because of it.

  3. Suggested by Hersh, comprising friends, colleagues, and scholars.

  4. Some of the latter are authentic treatises on the philosophy of mathematics.

  5. Exemplary of the disputes within the mathematical cosmos is Grigori Perelman’s withdrawal from mathematics, due to the derision of ethical standards in the community. See Nasar, Sylvia; Gruber, David (August 21, 2006). “Manifold Destiny: A legendary problem and the battle over who solved it.” The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 19, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/08/28/manifold-destiny

  6. This was Louis Althusser’s main argument concerning the role of philosophy as politics in the field of theory.

  7. Is this not a wonderful metaphor for political life? We all live in the middle-class, academic, bourgeoisie paradise, in spite of knowing the exploitative nature of our economic system; that our privileges come with a cost, that outside the wall people are living in misery, etc. We learn to avoid thinking about these issues, looking to certain landscapes, or going to certain places.

Reference

  • Kitcher, P., & Aspray, W. (1988). An opinionated introduction. In W. Aspray & P. Kitcher (Eds.), History and philosophy of modern mathematics (pp. 3–57). Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Alexandre Pais

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  1. Alexandre Pais
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Correspondence to Alexandre Pais.

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Pais, A. Book Review: The limits of pluralism. Bharath Sriraman (Ed.) (2017) Humanizing mathematics and its philosophy: Essays celebrating the 90th birthday of Reuben Hersh. Educ Stud Math 99, 235–240 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9829-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-018-9829-0

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