Author: Matthew Handelman
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823283852
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
This book offers an archeology of the undeveloped potential of mathematics for critical theory. As Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno first conceived of the critical project in the 1930s, critical theory steadfastly opposed the mathematization of thought. Mathematics flattened thought into a dangerous positivism that led reason to the barbarism of World War II. The Mathematical Imagination challenges this narrative, showing how for other German-Jewish thinkers, such as Gershom Scholem, Franz Rosenzweig, and Siegfried Kracauer, mathematics offered metaphors to negotiate the crises of modernity during the Weimar Republic. Influential theories of poetry, messianism, and cultural critique, Handelman shows, borrowed from the philosophy of mathematics, infinitesimal calculus, and geometry in order to refashion cultural and aesthetic discourse. Drawn to the austerity and muteness of mathematics, these friends and forerunners of the Frankfurt School found in mathematical approaches to negativity strategies to capture the marginalized experiences and perspectives of Jews in Germany. Their vocabulary, in which theory could be both mathematical and critical, is missing from the intellectual history of critical theory, whether in the work of second generation critical theorists such as Jürgen Habermas or in contemporary critiques of technology. The Mathematical Imagination shows how Scholem, Rosenzweig, and Kracauer’s engagement with mathematics uncovers a more capacious vision of the critical project, one with tools that can help us intervene in our digital and increasingly mathematical present. The Mathematical Imagination is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
The Mathematical Imagination
Author: Matthew Handelman
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823283852
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
This book offers an archeology of the undeveloped potential of mathematics for critical theory. As Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno first conceived of the critical project in the 1930s, critical theory steadfastly opposed the mathematization of thought. Mathematics flattened thought into a dangerous positivism that led reason to the barbarism of World War II. The Mathematical Imagination challenges this narrative, showing how for other German-Jewish thinkers, such as Gershom Scholem, Franz Rosenzweig, and Siegfried Kracauer, mathematics offered metaphors to negotiate the crises of modernity during the Weimar Republic. Influential theories of poetry, messianism, and cultural critique, Handelman shows, borrowed from the philosophy of mathematics, infinitesimal calculus, and geometry in order to refashion cultural and aesthetic discourse. Drawn to the austerity and muteness of mathematics, these friends and forerunners of the Frankfurt School found in mathematical approaches to negativity strategies to capture the marginalized experiences and perspectives of Jews in Germany. Their vocabulary, in which theory could be both mathematical and critical, is missing from the intellectual history of critical theory, whether in the work of second generation critical theorists such as Jürgen Habermas or in contemporary critiques of technology. The Mathematical Imagination shows how Scholem, Rosenzweig, and Kracauer’s engagement with mathematics uncovers a more capacious vision of the critical project, one with tools that can help us intervene in our digital and increasingly mathematical present. The Mathematical Imagination is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823283852
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
This book offers an archeology of the undeveloped potential of mathematics for critical theory. As Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno first conceived of the critical project in the 1930s, critical theory steadfastly opposed the mathematization of thought. Mathematics flattened thought into a dangerous positivism that led reason to the barbarism of World War II. The Mathematical Imagination challenges this narrative, showing how for other German-Jewish thinkers, such as Gershom Scholem, Franz Rosenzweig, and Siegfried Kracauer, mathematics offered metaphors to negotiate the crises of modernity during the Weimar Republic. Influential theories of poetry, messianism, and cultural critique, Handelman shows, borrowed from the philosophy of mathematics, infinitesimal calculus, and geometry in order to refashion cultural and aesthetic discourse. Drawn to the austerity and muteness of mathematics, these friends and forerunners of the Frankfurt School found in mathematical approaches to negativity strategies to capture the marginalized experiences and perspectives of Jews in Germany. Their vocabulary, in which theory could be both mathematical and critical, is missing from the intellectual history of critical theory, whether in the work of second generation critical theorists such as Jürgen Habermas or in contemporary critiques of technology. The Mathematical Imagination shows how Scholem, Rosenzweig, and Kracauer’s engagement with mathematics uncovers a more capacious vision of the critical project, one with tools that can help us intervene in our digital and increasingly mathematical present. The Mathematical Imagination is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
Poetic Logic and the Origins of the Mathematical Imagination
Author: Marcel Danesi
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031315820
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 180
Book Description
This book treats eighteenth-century Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico’s theory of poetic logic for the first time as the originating force in mathematics, transforming instinctive counting and spatial perception into poetic (metaphorical) symbolism that dovetails with the origin of language. It looks at current work on mathematical cognition (from Lakoff and Núñez to Butterworth, Dehaene, and beyond), matching it against the poetic logic paradigm. In a sense, it continues from where Kasner and Newman left off, connecting contemporary research on the mathematical mind to the idea that the products of early mathematics were virtually identical to the first forms of poetic language. As such, this book informs the current research on mathematical cognition from a different angle, by looking back at a still relatively unknown philosopher within mathematics. The aim of this volume is to look broadly at what constitutes the mathematical mind through the Vichian lens of poetic logic. Vico was among the first to suggest that the essential nature of mind could be unraveled indirectly by reconstructing the sources of its “modifications” (his term for “creations”); that is, by examining the creation and function of symbols, words, and all the other uniquely human artifacts—including mathematics—the mind has allowed humans to establish “the world of civil society,” Vico’s term for culture and civilization. The book is of interest to cognitive scientists working on math cognition. It presents the theory of poetic logic as Vico articulated it in his book The New Science, examining its main premises and then applying it to an interpretation of the ongoing work in math cognition. It will also be of interest to the general public, since it presents a history of early mathematics through the lens of an idea that has borne fruit in understanding the origin of language and symbols more broadly.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031315820
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 180
Book Description
This book treats eighteenth-century Italian philosopher Giambattista Vico’s theory of poetic logic for the first time as the originating force in mathematics, transforming instinctive counting and spatial perception into poetic (metaphorical) symbolism that dovetails with the origin of language. It looks at current work on mathematical cognition (from Lakoff and Núñez to Butterworth, Dehaene, and beyond), matching it against the poetic logic paradigm. In a sense, it continues from where Kasner and Newman left off, connecting contemporary research on the mathematical mind to the idea that the products of early mathematics were virtually identical to the first forms of poetic language. As such, this book informs the current research on mathematical cognition from a different angle, by looking back at a still relatively unknown philosopher within mathematics. The aim of this volume is to look broadly at what constitutes the mathematical mind through the Vichian lens of poetic logic. Vico was among the first to suggest that the essential nature of mind could be unraveled indirectly by reconstructing the sources of its “modifications” (his term for “creations”); that is, by examining the creation and function of symbols, words, and all the other uniquely human artifacts—including mathematics—the mind has allowed humans to establish “the world of civil society,” Vico’s term for culture and civilization. The book is of interest to cognitive scientists working on math cognition. It presents the theory of poetic logic as Vico articulated it in his book The New Science, examining its main premises and then applying it to an interpretation of the ongoing work in math cognition. It will also be of interest to the general public, since it presents a history of early mathematics through the lens of an idea that has borne fruit in understanding the origin of language and symbols more broadly.
The Mathematical Imagination
Author: Matthew Handelman
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823283844
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
This book offers an archeology of the undeveloped potential of mathematics for critical theory. As Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno first conceived of the critical project in the 1930s, critical theory steadfastly opposed the mathematization of thought. Mathematics flattened thought into a dangerous positivism that led reason to the barbarism of World War II. The Mathematical Imagination challenges this narrative, showing how for other German-Jewish thinkers, such as Gershom Scholem, Franz Rosenzweig, and Siegfried Kracauer, mathematics offered metaphors to negotiate the crises of modernity during the Weimar Republic. Influential theories of poetry, messianism, and cultural critique, Handelman shows, borrowed from the philosophy of mathematics, infinitesimal calculus, and geometry in order to refashion cultural and aesthetic discourse. Drawn to the austerity and muteness of mathematics, these friends and forerunners of the Frankfurt School found in mathematical approaches to negativity strategies to capture the marginalized experiences and perspectives of Jews in Germany. Their vocabulary, in which theory could be both mathematical and critical, is missing from the intellectual history of critical theory, whether in the work of second generation critical theorists such as Jürgen Habermas or in contemporary critiques of technology. The Mathematical Imagination shows how Scholem, Rosenzweig, and Kracauer’s engagement with mathematics uncovers a more capacious vision of the critical project, one with tools that can help us intervene in our digital and increasingly mathematical present. The Mathematical Imagination is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823283844
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225
Book Description
This book offers an archeology of the undeveloped potential of mathematics for critical theory. As Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno first conceived of the critical project in the 1930s, critical theory steadfastly opposed the mathematization of thought. Mathematics flattened thought into a dangerous positivism that led reason to the barbarism of World War II. The Mathematical Imagination challenges this narrative, showing how for other German-Jewish thinkers, such as Gershom Scholem, Franz Rosenzweig, and Siegfried Kracauer, mathematics offered metaphors to negotiate the crises of modernity during the Weimar Republic. Influential theories of poetry, messianism, and cultural critique, Handelman shows, borrowed from the philosophy of mathematics, infinitesimal calculus, and geometry in order to refashion cultural and aesthetic discourse. Drawn to the austerity and muteness of mathematics, these friends and forerunners of the Frankfurt School found in mathematical approaches to negativity strategies to capture the marginalized experiences and perspectives of Jews in Germany. Their vocabulary, in which theory could be both mathematical and critical, is missing from the intellectual history of critical theory, whether in the work of second generation critical theorists such as Jürgen Habermas or in contemporary critiques of technology. The Mathematical Imagination shows how Scholem, Rosenzweig, and Kracauer’s engagement with mathematics uncovers a more capacious vision of the critical project, one with tools that can help us intervene in our digital and increasingly mathematical present. The Mathematical Imagination is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.
Math with Bad Drawings
Author: Ben Orlin
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0316509027
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 556
Book Description
A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world. In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician. Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star. Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
ISBN: 0316509027
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 556
Book Description
A hilarious reeducation in mathematics-full of joy, jokes, and stick figures-that sheds light on the countless practical and wonderful ways that math structures and shapes our world. In Math With Bad Drawings, Ben Orlin reveals to us what math actually is; its myriad uses, its strange symbols, and the wild leaps of logic and faith that define the usually impenetrable work of the mathematician. Truth and knowledge come in multiple forms: colorful drawings, encouraging jokes, and the stories and insights of an empathetic teacher who believes that math should belong to everyone. Orlin shows us how to think like a mathematician by teaching us a brand-new game of tic-tac-toe, how to understand an economic crises by rolling a pair of dice, and the mathematical headache that ensues when attempting to build a spherical Death Star. Every discussion in the book is illustrated with Orlin's trademark "bad drawings," which convey his message and insights with perfect pitch and clarity. With 24 chapters covering topics from the electoral college to human genetics to the reasons not to trust statistics, Math with Bad Drawings is a life-changing book for the math-estranged and math-enamored alike.
Counterexamples in Calculus
Author: Sergiy Klymchuk
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 161444109X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
Counterexamples in Calculus serves as a supplementary resource to enhance the learning experience in single variable calculus courses. This book features carefully constructed incorrect mathematical statements that require students to create counterexamples to disprove them. Methods of producing these incorrect statements vary. At times the converse of a well-known theorem is presented. In other instances crucial conditions are omitted or altered or incorrect definitions are employed. Incorrect statements are grouped topically with sections devoted to: Functions, Limits, Continuity, Differential Calculus and Integral Calculus. This book aims to fill a gap in the literature and provide a resource for using counterexamples as a pedagogical tool in the study of introductory calculus.
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 161444109X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 113
Book Description
Counterexamples in Calculus serves as a supplementary resource to enhance the learning experience in single variable calculus courses. This book features carefully constructed incorrect mathematical statements that require students to create counterexamples to disprove them. Methods of producing these incorrect statements vary. At times the converse of a well-known theorem is presented. In other instances crucial conditions are omitted or altered or incorrect definitions are employed. Incorrect statements are grouped topically with sections devoted to: Functions, Limits, Continuity, Differential Calculus and Integral Calculus. This book aims to fill a gap in the literature and provide a resource for using counterexamples as a pedagogical tool in the study of introductory calculus.
A Topological Picturebook
Author: George K. Francis
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387681205
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 211
Book Description
Praise for George Francis's A Topological Picturebook: Bravo to Springer for reissuing this unique and beautiful book! It not only reminds the older generation of the pleasures of doing mathematics by hand, but also shows the new generation what ``hands on'' really means. - John Stillwell, University of San Francisco The Topological Picturebook has taught a whole generation of mathematicians to draw, to see, and to think. - Tony Robbin, artist and author of Shadows of Reality: The Fourth Dimension in Relativity, Cubism, and Modern Thought The classic reference for how to present topological information visually, full of amazing hand-drawn pictures of complicated surfaces. - John Sullivan, Technische Universitat Berlin A Topological Picturebook lets students see topology as the original discoverers conceived it: concrete and visual, free of the formalism that burdens conventional textbooks. - Jeffrey Weeks, author of The Shape of Space A Topological Picturebook is a visual feast for anyone concerned with mathematical images. Francis provides exquisite examples to build one's "visualization muscles". At the same time, he explains the underlying principles and design techniques for readers to create their own lucid drawings. - George W. Hart, Stony Brook University In this collection of narrative gems and intriguing hand-drawn pictures, George Francis demonstrates the chicken-and-egg relationship, in mathematics, of image and text. Since the book was first published, the case for pictures in mathematics has been won, and now it is time to reflect on their meaning. A Topological Picturebook remains indispensable. - Marjorie Senechal, Smith College and co-editor of the Mathematical Intelligencer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387681205
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 211
Book Description
Praise for George Francis's A Topological Picturebook: Bravo to Springer for reissuing this unique and beautiful book! It not only reminds the older generation of the pleasures of doing mathematics by hand, but also shows the new generation what ``hands on'' really means. - John Stillwell, University of San Francisco The Topological Picturebook has taught a whole generation of mathematicians to draw, to see, and to think. - Tony Robbin, artist and author of Shadows of Reality: The Fourth Dimension in Relativity, Cubism, and Modern Thought The classic reference for how to present topological information visually, full of amazing hand-drawn pictures of complicated surfaces. - John Sullivan, Technische Universitat Berlin A Topological Picturebook lets students see topology as the original discoverers conceived it: concrete and visual, free of the formalism that burdens conventional textbooks. - Jeffrey Weeks, author of The Shape of Space A Topological Picturebook is a visual feast for anyone concerned with mathematical images. Francis provides exquisite examples to build one's "visualization muscles". At the same time, he explains the underlying principles and design techniques for readers to create their own lucid drawings. - George W. Hart, Stony Brook University In this collection of narrative gems and intriguing hand-drawn pictures, George Francis demonstrates the chicken-and-egg relationship, in mathematics, of image and text. Since the book was first published, the case for pictures in mathematics has been won, and now it is time to reflect on their meaning. A Topological Picturebook remains indispensable. - Marjorie Senechal, Smith College and co-editor of the Mathematical Intelligencer
Matter, Imagination, and Geometry
Author: Dmitriĭ Vladimirovich Nikulin
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
"This book considers conditions of applicability of mathematics to the study of natural phenomena. The possibility of such an application is one of the fundamental assumptions underlying the enormous theoretical and practical success of modern science. Addressing problems of matter, substance, infinity, number, structure of cognitive faculties, imagination, and of construction of mathematical object, Dmitri Nikulin examines mathematical (geometrical) objects in their relation to geometrical or intelligible matter and to imagination. The author explores questions in the history of philosophy and science, particularly in late antiquity and early modernity. The focus is on key thinkers Plotinus and Descartes (with the occasional appearance of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Proclus, Newton and others), in whom the fundamental presuppositions of ripe antiquity and of early modernity find their definite expression."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
"This book considers conditions of applicability of mathematics to the study of natural phenomena. The possibility of such an application is one of the fundamental assumptions underlying the enormous theoretical and practical success of modern science. Addressing problems of matter, substance, infinity, number, structure of cognitive faculties, imagination, and of construction of mathematical object, Dmitri Nikulin examines mathematical (geometrical) objects in their relation to geometrical or intelligible matter and to imagination. The author explores questions in the history of philosophy and science, particularly in late antiquity and early modernity. The focus is on key thinkers Plotinus and Descartes (with the occasional appearance of Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Proclus, Newton and others), in whom the fundamental presuppositions of ripe antiquity and of early modernity find their definite expression."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Sketches of the History of Man
Author: Lord Henry Home Kames
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 572
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Civilization
Languages : en
Pages : 572
Book Description
Mathematics and the Imagination
Author: Edward Kasner
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486320278
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
With wit and clarity, the authors progress from simple arithmetic to calculus and non-Euclidean geometry. Their subjects: geometry, plane and fancy; puzzles that made mathematical history; tantalizing paradoxes; more. Includes 169 figures.
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486320278
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
With wit and clarity, the authors progress from simple arithmetic to calculus and non-Euclidean geometry. Their subjects: geometry, plane and fancy; puzzles that made mathematical history; tantalizing paradoxes; more. Includes 169 figures.