On the conception of mathematical objects and methods in d'Alembert's philosophical texts

DOI10.1016/J.HM.2019.02.001MaRDI QIDQ2279708zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Pierre Lamandé

Publication date 13 December 2019

Published in Historia Mathematica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2019.02.001

zbMATH Keywords

18th century mathematicsd'Alembertfoundations of mathematicsMathematical epistemologyMathematical philosophy

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Philosophy of mathematics (00A30) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to history and biography (01-02) History of mathematics in the 18th century (01A50) History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) Collected or selected works; reprintings or translations of classics (01A75)

Review text

Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717--1783) has devoted much attention to the ``métaphysique des mathématiques. Relying upon his many writings on the subject, the author outlines some of its features. He starts with the d'Alembert's views on the role of mathematics in studying nature, followed by a hierachy of mathematical domains depending on the degree of their abstractness, his views upon the role of definitions, his understanding of general quantities, numbers and rules of algebra, coming to the problem of reality of mathematical objects discussed in the case of irrationals. The last part of the paper is devoted to difficulties encountered then in some domains of mathematics and d'Alembert's efforts to solve them: algebra and negative numbers, principles of geometry, basic role of the limit concept in differential calculus. The paper is completed by a vast bibliography.

Recommendations

• D'Alembert and Lagrange. Two different viewpoints concerning the fundaments of analysis
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• Complete works. Series III. Mathematical papers and memoirs, 1757--1783. Volume 1. Mathematical papers. Vol. 1: 1761. Edited by Pierre Crépel, Alexandre Guilbaud and Guillaume Jouve

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Cited in

(21)

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