How useful is the term `modernism' for understanding the history of early twentieth-century mathematics?

DOI10.1007/978-3-031-40855-7_16MaRDI QIDQ6623916zbMATH OpenFDO

Publication date 24 October 2024

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40855-7_16

cultural transformation historiographical tools mathematics and arts modernism modernization Zeitgeist

Philosophy of mathematics (00A30) General histories, source books (01A05) Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies (01A70) Historiography (01A85)

Review text

The paper presents a critical assessment of the concept of modernism for understanding the history of mathematics. The term refers to transformations in the visual arts, music, architecture, and literature in the period between 1890 and 1930. The author asks whether the development of mathematics in this period can be seen as part of this phenomenon.\N\NThere have been several attempts to define the term ``modernism. The author focuses on U.\ Weisstein's suggestion that `modernism' stands for ``the various kinds of modernist aesthetics in terms of their emphasis on the formal, as opposed to concrete subject matters and intentions, together with a consistent inclination to undertake radical breaks with the accepted norms of the field, by way of rites of passage and inspirational manifestos meant to embody avant-garde attitudes (396).\N\NThe author discusses two pioneering studies, [\textit{H. Mehrtens}, Moderne -- Sprache -- Mathematik. Eine Geschichte des Streits um die Grundlagen der Disziplin und des Subjekts formaler Sprache. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp Verlag (1990; Zbl 0978.00009)] and [\textit{J. Gray}, Plato's ghost. The modernist transformation of mathematics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press (2008; Zbl 1166.00005)], with regard to the ``potential historiographical gains of pursuing such discussions (394). He compares modern mathematics and modernist art, and examines C.\ Clement's concept of modernist painting in terms of its explanatory value for mathematics. He then discusses A.\ Janik's and S.\ Toulmin's survey of \textit{Wittgenstein's Vienna} on the influence of the intellectual climate in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century on L.\ Wittgenstein's philosophy. The transfer of this approach to the contemporary vibrant mathematical scene in Vienna promises to be fruitful.\N\NThe author does not propose a straightforward reconstruction of the mathematical development in terms of a modernist movement. He is more careful in suggesting that ``we should ask ourselves in the perspective of modernism may lead us to look for new insights into making sense of the history of modern mathematics (417). In any case this approach leads to a ``deeper understanding of the \textit{historical processes leading to modernism} in its various cultural manifestations (419).\N\NFor the entire collection see [Zbl 1537.01004].

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