For an epistemology of mathematical contents: Albert Lautman (Q2304812)

The article is inscribed in a long series of studies by the author on Lautman (beginning in 1978, see [``La philosophie des mathématiques chez Albert Lautman'', Il Protagora 115, 12--24 (1978)]). Albert Lautman (France, 1908--1944) may be considered as one of the deepest philosophers of mathematics in the 20th century (see [\textit{A. Lautman}, Les mathématiques, les idées et le réel physique. Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin (2006; Zbl 1153.00008)]), exceeding mere discussions on the analytical philosophy of logic and foundations, to which has been reduced and impoverished the so-called ``philosophy of mathematics''. As a counterpart, the article under review restores the importance of Lautman for a thorough reflection on mathematical thought, going well beyond logic, and truly attentive to higher conceptualizations, from number theory, to modern algebra, geometry, topology, and functional analysis (Galois, Riemann, Poincaré, Hilbert, are some of the mathematicians carefully discerned by Lautman). The author inspects the ``epistemological turn'' offered by Lautman: (i) an attention to a ``philosophie mathématique'' observant of the ``mixtures'' between discrete counting (number) and continuous magnitude (space), mainly following the work of Riemann, (ii) a systematic hierarchization of the ``dialectic'' of mathematical thought, ``characterised by an internal and creative tension between structure and existence, finite and infinite, being and becoming, the whole and the part, local and global, continuous and discontinuous, perfect and imperfect, quantitative and qualitative'', where the work of Weyl provides a central impetus, (iii) an exploration of an ``epistemology of physical-mathematical contents'', where the author shows how, beyond syntactical form, semantical contents and the interplay of mathematics with physics, along with connections to Bachelard and Geymonat, provide the main \textit{raisons d'être} for an extended philosophy of mathematics, vigilant of the real. A useful appendix provides a short biography of Lautman, and the many references (54 items) offer a complete, to date, guide of Lautman studies.