Skip to main content

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 289))

Abstract

In the present paper I would like to present some reflections which occurred to me upon reading Grosholz’s paper “The Partial Unification of Domains, Hybrids, and the Growth of Mathematical Knowledge.” However, I should warn the reader that although Grosholz’s paper provided the original stimulus for mine, in the end I pursue a number of issues which were perhaps not the central ones Grosholz was addressing. Grosholz begins by claiming that,

Relations among distinct areas of mathematical activity are most commonly discussed in terms of the reduction of axiomatized theories, where reduction is defined to be the deductive derivation of the axioms of the reduced theory as theorems of the reducing theory (Grosholz 1999, 81).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Aristotle. (1941). The Basic Works of Aristotle. Edited and Translated by R. McKeon. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnauld, A. (1667). Nouveaux Elemens de Geometrie. Paris. Reprint in (Arnauld 1775–81, Vol. 42).

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnauld, A. (1775–81). Oeuvres de Messire Antoine Arnauld. G. Du Pac de Bellegarde and J. Hautefage. (Eds.). Paris: S. D’Arnay.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnauld, A. and Nicole, P. (1872). The Port-Royal Logic. Translated by Thomas Spencer Baynes. 7th Edition. Edinburgh: Blackwood Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, J. (1975). Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Biancani, G. (1615). De mathematicarum natura dissertatio, Bononiae. Translation in (Mancosu 1996, 178–212).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolzano, B. (1837). Wissenschaftslehre. Sulzbach: Seidel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolzano, B. (1972). Theory of Science. Edited and Translated by R. George. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolzano, B. (1978). Vermischte Philosophische und Physikalische Schriften. J. Berg. (Ed.). Part of Bernard-Bolzano Gesamtausgabe. (1969-), Winter, Kambartel, van Rootselaar. (Eds.). Stuttgart: Frömmann Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabri, H. (1669). Synopsis Geometrica. Lugduni Gallorum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottignies, G. F. de. (1669). Elementa Geometriae Planae. Rome: Angeli Bernado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosholz, E. (1985). “Two episodes in the unification of logic and topology.” British Journal for the Philosophy ofScience. Vol. 36: 147–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grosholz, E. (1999). “The partial unification of domains, hybrids, and the growth of mathematical knowledge.” In this volume. Pages 81–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guldin, P. (1635–1641). Centrobaryca. Viennae: Gelbhaar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitcher, P. (1975). “Bolzano’s ideal of algebraic analysis.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Vol. 6: 229–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mancosu, P. (1991). “On the Status of Proofs by Contradiction in the Seventeenth Century.” Synthèse. Vol. 88: 15–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mancosu, P. (1992). “Aristotelian Logic and Euclidean Mathematics: Seventeenth-Century Developments of the Quaestio de Certitudine Mathematicarum.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Vol. 23: 241–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mancosu, P. (1996). Philosophy of Mathematics and Mathematical Practice in the Seventeenth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Menger, K. (1928). “Bemerkungen zur Grundlagenfragen.” Jahresbericht der Deutschen MathematikerVereinigung. Vol. 37: 213–26. Translated as “An intuitionistic-formalistic dictionary of settheory” in (Menger 1979, 79–87).

    Google Scholar 

  • Menger, K. (1979). Selected Papers in Logic and Foundations, Didactics, Economics. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nehrlich, G. (1979). “What can geometry explain?” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 30: 69–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pereyra, B. (1576). De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis et affectionibus libri quindecim. Rome.

    Google Scholar 

  • Philosophical Transactions. (1670). Vol. 5: 2054–7. Reprinted by Johnson Reprint Corporation and Klaus Reprint Corporation, New York, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piccolomini, A. (1547). Commentarium de certitudine mathematicarum disciplinarum. Rome.

    Google Scholar 

  • Proclus. (1970). A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements. Translated by Glenn R. Morrow. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnik, M., and Kushner, D. (1987). “Explanation, Independence and Realism in Mathematics.” British Journalfor the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 38: 141–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rivaltus, D. (1615). Archimedis Opera quae extant novis demonstrationibus commentariisque illustrata per Davidem Rivaltum in Flurantia. Paris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salmon, W. (1990). Four Decades of Scientific Explanation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sandborg, D. (1996). Pick’s Theorem: A case study in mathematical explanation. Unpublished typescript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steiner, M. (1978). “Mathematical Explanation.” Philosophical Studies. Vol. 34: 135–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steiner, M. (1983). “The Philosophy of Mathematics of Imre Lakatos.” The Journal of Philosophy. Vol. 80: 502–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steiner, M. (1999). “Penrose and Platonism.” In this volume. Pages 133–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulivi, E. (1982). “Il Teorema di Pappo-Guldino: Dimostrazioni ed Attribuzioni.”Bollettino di Storia delle Scienze Matematiche. Vol. II : 179–208.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mancosu, P. (2000). On Mathematical Explanation. In: Grosholz, E., Breger, H. (eds) The Growth of Mathematical Knowledge. Synthese Library, vol 289. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9558-2_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9558-2_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5391-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9558-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics