Definition
This entry examines Lakatos’ assertion that the nature of mathematical knowledge is quasi-empirical, in attempting to describe the growth of mathematical knowledge and its implications for mathematics education.
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The Hungarian philosopher Imre Lakatos (1976) considered mathematics to be a quasi-empirical science in his famous book “Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery.” The book, popularized within the mathematics community by Reuben Hersh (1978) after this paper “Introducing Imre Lakatos” (Hersh 1978), might also be considered as Lakatos’ response to the claims on the methodology of mathematics, related to explaining how it is that mathematical knowledge qualifies for superlative epistemological qualities such as certainty, indubitability, and infallibility.
Lakatos’ attempted to illustrate the fallibility of mathematics. Written as a fictionalized classroom dialogue, Lakatos’ book (1976) presented an innovative, captivating, and...
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References
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Sriraman, B., Mousoulides, N. (2014). Quasi-empirical Reasoning (Lakatos). In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4978-8_131
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