A Burgessian critique of nominalistic tendencies in contemporary mathematics and its historiography

DOI10.1007/S10699-011-9223-1zbMATH Open1283.03006OpenAlexW2076162902WikidataQ55871461 ScholiaQ55871461MaRDI QIDQ2391944FDOQ2391944

Authors Karin U. Katz, Mikhail G. Katz 

Publication date 5 August 2013

Published in Foundations of Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1104.0375

zbMATH Keywords

continuitycompletenessCauchyWeierstrassinfinitesimalconstructivismepsilonticsFelix Kleinnon-ArchimedeanAbraham RobinsonnominalismDedekindCantorSimon Stevinlaw of excluded middleDu Bois-ReymondBurgessmathematical rigoradequalityErrett BishopArchimedean continuumBernoullian continuumFermat-Robinson standard partnominalistic reconstructionLeibniz-Łoś transfer principle

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Philosophy of mathematics (00A30) History of mathematical logic and foundations (03-03) Logic in the philosophy of science (03A10) History of real functions (26-03) Constructive and recursive analysis (03F60) Historiography (01A85)

Abstract: We analyze the developments in mathematical rigor from the viewpoint of a Burgessian critique of nominalistic reconstructions. We apply such a critique to the reconstruction of infinitesimal analysis accomplished through the efforts of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass; to the reconstruction of Cauchy's foundational work associated with the work of Boyer and Grabiner; and to Bishop's constructivist reconstruction of classical analysis. We examine the effects of a nominalist disposition on historiography, teaching, and research.

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