Brouwer's intuitionism vis à vis Kant's intuition and imagination (Q2268038)

This article is prefaced by a two page note from the editor David E. Rowe which sets out some of the background to Brouwer's work in the foundations of mathematics. The aim of the article itself is to discuss the intellectual relationship between Brouwer and Kant. One theme in this relationship is Brouwer's insistence that mathematics be separated from language. The author relates this to Kant by arguing that Kant connected mathematics to pure intuition and ``Brouwer instinctively understood Kant's point, namely that pure intuition -- more specifically, time as the form of \textit{all} intuition -- is essentially non-conceptual, that is, \textit{nonlinguistic}'' (p. 33). The author goes on to discuss how Brouwer's rejection of the law of excluded middle is related to Kant's Mathematical Antinomies of Pure Reason. Finally, a comparison is made between Brouwer's view that ``mathematics is more art than science, while it is science alone for Kant'' (p. 34). Despite this difference, ``the Brouwerian view of mathematical truth finds an affinity in Kant's aesthetic philosophy'' (p. 34). The paper concludes by arguing that Brouwer's appropriation of Kant is more genuine than Hilbert's many references to Kant.