Introduction

Summary

Section 1 of this introduction explains the rationale for this book. Section 2 discusses what we chose not to include, and why. Sections 3 and 4 contain a brief summary of historical background leading to contemporary perspectives in the philosophy of mathematics. Section 3 traces the history of the philosophy of mathematics through Kant, and Section 4 consists of an overview of the foundational schools. Section 5 is an annotated bibliography of sources for interesting recent work by some influential scholars who did not write chapters for this book. And finally, section 6 consists of very brief overviews of the chapters in this book.

The Purpose of This Book

This book provides a sampler of current topics in the philosophy of mathematics. It contains original articles by leading mathematicians, mathematics educators, and philosophers of mathematics written with a mathematical audience in mind. The chapters by philosophers have been edited carefully to minimize philosophical jargon, and summarize many years of work on these topics. They should thus provide a much gentler introduction to what philosophers have been discussing over the last 30 years than will be found in a typical book written by them for other philosophers. We have also included a glossary of the more common philosophical terms (such as epistemology, ontology, etc.). The chapters by mathematicians and mathematics educators raise and discuss questions not currently being considered by philosophers.