Natural Numbers and Infinitesimals: A Discussion between Benno Kerry and Georg Cantor

History and Philosophy of Logic 29 (4):343-359 (2008)
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Abstract

During the first months of 1887, while completing the drafts of his Mitteilungen zur Lehre vom Transfiniten, Georg Cantor maintained a continuous correspondence with Benno Kerry. Their exchange essentially concerned two main topics in the philosophy of mathematics, namely, (a) the concept of natural number and (b) the infinitesimals. Cantor's and Kerry's positions turned out to be irreconcilable, mostly because of Kerry's irremediably psychologistic outlook, according to Cantor at least. In this study, I will examine and reconstruct the main points in the discussion around (a) and (b) and stress some interesting aspects of the philosophical and mathematical thought of Benno Kerry

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Carlo Proietti
University of Amsterdam

Citations of this work

Infinitesimals as an issue of neo-Kantian philosophy of science.Thomas Mormann & Mikhail Katz - 2013 - Hopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science (2):236-280.

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References found in this work

The Principles of Mathematics.Bertrand Russell - 1903 - Cambridge, England: Allen & Unwin.
The foundations of arithmetic.Gottlob Frege - 1884/1950 - Evanston, Ill.,: Northwestern University Press.
The Principles of Mathematics.Bertrand Russell - 1903 - Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale 11 (4):11-12.
Ueber Begriff und Gegenstand.Gottlob Frege - 1892 - Vierteljahrsschrift Für Wissenschaftliche Philosophie 16 (2):192-205.

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