Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience
Jean Dieudonné, the spokesman of the group of French mathematicians named Bourbaki, called mathematics the music of reason. This metaphor invites a phenomenological account of the affective, in contrast to the epistemic and discursive, nature of mathematics: What constitutes its charm? Mathematical...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Windsor
2015-10-01
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| Series: | PhaenEx: Journal of Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture |
| Online Access: | https://phaenex.uwindsor.ca/index.php/phaenex/article/view/3935 |
| _version_ | 1818368599880892416 |
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| author | TILL DÜPPE |
| author_facet | TILL DÜPPE |
| author_sort | TILL DÜPPE |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Jean Dieudonné, the spokesman of the group of French mathematicians named Bourbaki, called mathematics the music of reason. This metaphor invites a phenomenological account of the affective, in contrast to the epistemic and discursive, nature of mathematics: What constitutes its charm? Mathematical reasoning is described as a perceptual experience, which in Husserl’s late philosophy would be a case of passive synthesis. Like a melody, a mathematical proof is manifest in an affective identity of a temporal object. Rather than an exercise for its own sake, this account sheds a different light on both the epistemic limitation of mathematical science, and the discursive problem of social responsibility in mathematics – two issues at the heart of Husserl’s critique of science as well as of mid-20th century mathematics, for which Nicolas Bourbaki stands as a monument of rigor. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T23:10:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-602fa25050b64b12a9da39d5be3c7947 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1911-1576 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T23:10:31Z |
| publishDate | 2015-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Windsor |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PhaenEx: Journal of Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture |
| spelling | doaj.art-602fa25050b64b12a9da39d5be3c79472022-12-21T23:28:07ZengUniversity of WindsorPhaenEx: Journal of Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture1911-15762015-10-011010.22329/p.v10i0.3935Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical ExperienceTILL DÜPPE0Université du Québec à MontréalJean Dieudonné, the spokesman of the group of French mathematicians named Bourbaki, called mathematics the music of reason. This metaphor invites a phenomenological account of the affective, in contrast to the epistemic and discursive, nature of mathematics: What constitutes its charm? Mathematical reasoning is described as a perceptual experience, which in Husserl’s late philosophy would be a case of passive synthesis. Like a melody, a mathematical proof is manifest in an affective identity of a temporal object. Rather than an exercise for its own sake, this account sheds a different light on both the epistemic limitation of mathematical science, and the discursive problem of social responsibility in mathematics – two issues at the heart of Husserl’s critique of science as well as of mid-20th century mathematics, for which Nicolas Bourbaki stands as a monument of rigor.https://phaenex.uwindsor.ca/index.php/phaenex/article/view/3935 |
| spellingShingle | TILL DÜPPE Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience PhaenEx: Journal of Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture |
| title | Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience |
| title_full | Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience |
| title_fullStr | Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience |
| title_full_unstemmed | Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience |
| title_short | Listening to the Music of Reason: Nicolas Bourbaki and the Phenomenology of the Mathematical Experience |
| title_sort | listening to the music of reason nicolas bourbaki and the phenomenology of the mathematical experience |
| url | https://phaenex.uwindsor.ca/index.php/phaenex/article/view/3935 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tillduppe listeningtothemusicofreasonnicolasbourbakiandthephenomenologyofthemathematicalexperience |