Theoria: An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science

Volume 5, Issue 1/2, Noviembre 1990

Mariano Hormigón
Pages 241-259

La pesada herencia deo la libertad matemática

The debate between the pure or fundamentalist branch of mathematics and the applied one induces to discuss dispassionately the links between the queen of sciences and the development of technology. To avoid the existing difficulty in separating the concrete daily problems from the conceptual and theoretic reflections, it generally produces good results to show some elements of the relations between mathematics and teehnology. The autonomous position, which characterizes the mathematics of absolute freedom, clashes with the quick development of technology, which creates a new structure of mathematics. This development produces a pennanent interrogation about what is building and developing anyone who calls himself a mathematician.