Idealization in Cassirer's philosophy of mathematics

Philosophia Mathematica 16 (2):151 - 181 (2008)
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Abstract

The notion of idealization has received considerable attention in contemporary philosophy of science but less in philosophy of mathematics. An exception was the ‘critical idealism’ of the neo-Kantian philosopher Ernst Cassirer. According to Cassirer the methodology of idealization plays a central role for mathematics and empirical science. In this paper it is argued that Cassirer's contributions in this area still deserve to be taken into account in the current debates in philosophy of mathematics. For extremely useful criticisms on earlier versions I am grateful to B.P. Larvor and another anonymous journal referee. CiteULike Connotea Del.icio.us What's this?

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10.1093/philmat/nkm038

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Thomas Mormann
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München (PhD)

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.
Ernst Cassirer's transcendental account of mathematical reasoning.Francesca Biagioli - 2020 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 79 (C):30-40.
Ernst Cassirer's Neo-Kantian Philosophy of Geometry.Jeremy Heis - 2011 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 19 (4):759 - 794.
A place for pragmatism in the dynamics of reason?Thomas Mormann - 2012 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 43 (1):27-37.

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References found in this work

The nature of mathematical knowledge.Philip Kitcher - 1983 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Reconsidering Logical Positivism.Michael Friedman - 1999 - New York: Cambridge University Press.

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