The Applicability of Mathematics as a Philosophical Problem

Steiner, Mark

ISBN 10: 067404097X / ISBN 13: 9780674040977

Editore: Harvard University Press, 1998

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Hardback with dust jacket. Dust jacket is in good condition. Cover edges and corners in good shape. Spine is tight. Pages are clean, no markings, notes or stains. Ships from Friends bookstore to benefit Beaverton (Oregon) library.

Codice articolo mon0000066637

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: The Applicability of Mathematics as a Philosophical Problem
• Editore: Harvard University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 1998
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 067404097X
• ISBN 13: 9780674040977
• Rilegatura: hardcover
• Condizione: Very Good
• Condizione della sovraccoperta: sovraccoperta

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

This book analyzes the different ways mathematics is applicable in the physical sciences, and presents a startling thesis--the success of mathematical physics appears to assign the human mind a special place in the cosmos.

Mark Steiner distinguishes among the semantic problems that arise from the use of mathematics in logical deduction; the metaphysical problems that arise from the alleged gap between mathematical objects and the physical world; the descriptive problems that arise from the use of mathematics to describe nature; and the epistemological problems that arise from the use of mathematics to discover those very descriptions.

The epistemological problems lead to the thesis about the mind. It is frequently claimed that the universe is indifferent to human goals and values, and therefore, Locke and Peirce, for example, doubted science's ability to discover the laws governing the humanly unobservable. Steiner argues that, on the contrary, these laws were discovered, using manmade mathematical analogies, resulting in an anthropocentric picture of the universe as "user friendly" to human cognition--a challenge to the entrenched dogma of naturalism.

Product Description

Book by Steiner Mark