more on this theme     |     more from this text


Single Idea 9618

[filed under theme 6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry ]

Full Idea

Bolzano if the father of 'arithmetization', which sought to found all of analysis on the concepts of arithmetic and to eliminate geometrical notions entirely (with logicism taking it a step further, by reducing arithmetic to logic).

Gist of Idea

Bolzano wanted to reduce all of geometry to arithmetic

Source

report of Bernard Bolzano (Theory of Science (Wissenschaftslehre, 4 vols) [1837]) by James Robert Brown - Philosophy of Mathematics Ch. 3

Book Ref

Brown,James Robert: 'Philosophy of Mathematics' [Routledge 2002], p.28


A Reaction

Brown's book is a defence of geometrical diagrams against Bolzano's approach. Bolzano sounds like the modern heir of Pythagoras, if he thinks that space is essentially numerical.


The 11 ideas from Bernard Bolzano

A truly infinite quantity does not need to be a variable [Bolzano]
An aggregate in which order does not matter I call a 'set' [Bolzano]
Bolzano wanted to reduce all of geometry to arithmetic [Bolzano, by Brown,JR]
Bolzano began the elimination of intuition, by proving something which seemed obvious [Bolzano, by Dummett]
Philosophical proofs in mathematics establish truths, and also show their grounds [Bolzano, by Correia/Schnieder]
Bolzano wanted to avoid Kantian intuitions, and prove everything that could be proved [Bolzano, by Dummett]
Bolzano saw propositions as objective entities, existing independently of us [Bolzano, by Potter]
Propositions are abstract structures of concepts, ready for judgement or assertion [Bolzano, by Correia/Schnieder]
The ground of a pure conceptual truth is only in other conceptual truths [Bolzano]
The laws of thought are true, but they are not the axioms of logic [Bolzano, by George/Van Evra]
A 'proposition' is the sense of a linguistic expression, and can be true or false [Bolzano]