New Trends in the History and Philosophy of Mathematics

This book is a collection of papers presented at the conference New Trends in the History and Philosophy of Mathematics held at the University of Roskilde, Denmark, 6-8 August 1998. The purpose of the meeting was to present some of the new ideas on the study of mathematics, its character and the nature of its development. During the last decades work in history and philosophy of mathematics has led to several new original views on mathematics. Both new methods and angles of study have been introduced, and old views of, say, the nature of mathematical theories and proofs have been challenged. For instance, disciplines as etnohistorical studies of mathematics and the sociology of mathematics have resulted in several new insights, and classical historians of mathematics are also experimenting with new perspectives. In a similar way philosophy of mathematics has witnessed rather deep changes. Classical foundational studies have been challenged by new broader perspectives. The aim was to provide a forum within which historians of mathematics, philosophers, and mathematicians could exchange ideas and discuss different new approaches in the history and philosophy of mathematics. The book includes papers by Joan Richards, Henk J. M. Bos, Donald MacKenzie, Arthur Jaffe, Jody Azzouni and Paulus Gerdes. It also includes an extended introduction.