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Would the Real Lakatos Please Stand Up

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Abstract

Although Imre Lakatos described the work published in his book Proofs and Refutations as a study of mathematical methodology, work which has been responded to and criticized by philosophers and historians of mathematics more on its own terms, a significant body of writing in the 30 years since its appearance has used it as a pertinent cognate text appropriable for school mathematics education. In this paper, we contrast the responses these two fields have generated, with an emphasis on that of mathematics education. Doing so offers a potentially salutary case study of how challenging and fraught it can be at times to undertake work at the nexus of history and philosophy on the one hand, while at the same time seeking to explore its possible relevance and significance for education. As our title suggests, we are concerned about the proliferating Lakatos personas that seem to exist, including a growing range of self-styled reform or progressive educational practices which get attributed to him.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2G5

    David Pimm, Mary Beisiegel & Irene Meglis

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  1. David Pimm
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  2. Mary Beisiegel
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  3. Irene Meglis
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Correspondence to David Pimm.

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Pimm, D., Beisiegel, M. & Meglis, I. Would the Real Lakatos Please Stand Up. Interchange 39, 469–481 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-008-9076-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-008-9076-x

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