scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1551439

Publication date 15 January 2001

construction criticism intuition mathematical concepts problems of space and time schematism

Philosophy of mathematics (00A30) History of mathematics in the 18th century (01A50)

This is the first comprehensive exposition and interpretation of \textit{I. Kant}'s philosophy of mathematics in its entire development from the pre-critical period to the ``Critique of pure reason [1781]. It is somewhat astonishing that nothing comparable has been published up to now, given \textit{W. Ewald} assessment of Kant as ``the most influential philosophers of mathematics in modern times whose ``Critique of pure reason to a considerable extend ``set the agenda for the philosophy of mathematics of the next century [From Kant to Hilbert, vol. 1, Oxford UP, Oxford, p. 132 (1996; Zbl 0859.01002, pbk. Zbl 0935.01002)]. In this book, based on a Marburg Phil. Diss. of 1997, the author pleads for giving up the prospective view on Kant's philosophy of mathematics, i.e. the approach of reading Kant as a writer of today, and, instead of this, to interpret him retrospectively, i.e., to look what he wrote, to examine how this is founded, whether it was new or not, coherent or not, and if not, whether its failure can be understood (p. 2). This conception requires a broad approach, considering in a comprehensive way the context in which Kant's philosophy of mathematics is located, especially the \textit{Leibniz}-\textit{Wolff}ian approach of earlier rationalism, \textit{J. Locke}'s influence (\S 15), and other contemporary conceptions of the philosophy of mathematics. The author correctly stresses that Kant was no mathematician and that he followed the development of this science only in passing. His attitude was genuinely philosophical, driven by the amazement about the phenomenon mathematics and ensuring its applicability. The author presents his material in three parts and 24 paragraphs. The three parts are related to periods of the development of Kant's philosophy of mathematics. The first part deals with the pre-critical period marked by the competitive treatise ``Untersuchungen über die Deutlichkeit der Grundsätze der natürlichen Theologie [1762] (\S\S 1-8). Already in this period Kant followed the fundamental premiss that mathematics is a sensitive or intuitive science. It is thereby epistemologically different from philosophy which leads to abstract and discursive knowledge (p. 19). All mathematical knowledge is gained \textit{in concreto}, Kant says, but he doesn't give a foundation of this thesis. Mathematics is synthetic, starting from given simple phenomena arriving at complex ones thereby never leaving the domain of intuition (p. 211). The second part treats the transition period 1770-1775 starting with the inaugural dissertation ``De mundi sensiblis [1770] (\S\S 9-16). Now the problems of space and time enter Kant's theory, and around 1775 the concept of construction is developed which gives for the first time an account of the activity of the mathematician. The third part discusses Kant's mature theory as given in his ``Critique of pure reason [1881] (\S\S\ 17-24). The idea that mathematical knowledge is synthetic-apriori knowledge based on the construction of concepts in pure intuition becomes predominant. Mathematical abstraction as treated in the schematism chapter of the ``Critique is discussed extensively (\S\ 18). The book ends with a presentation of a dispute between Leibnitians and Kantians which can be found in the pages of \textit{J. A. Eberhard}'s ``Philosophisches Magazin in 1789-1792. In sum: the book gives a valuable and historical sensible account of Kant's philosophy of mathematics in its entire complexity.

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