What
is Mathematics, Really is a book authored by the mathematician Ruben Hersh. He
was best known for his writings which had a great to not just mathematics but
also to society. His book focuses on the different philosophical views and
perspectives on the subject of mathematics. The book presents examples,
situations explanations and many more topics about math and the philosophy
behind it. He gives connections to topics to solve some problems and to explain
the complicated world of mathematics.
The
book is quite complicated to read at first. It took a while and some repetitions
of some lines to somehow understand what he is portraying. But in other parts,
he explains clearly some important points in mathematics, like how mathematicians
need to discover problems, and when he works on the problems he needs
reassurance and some encouragement to solve it which in the end would lead to a
proposed solution that would need criticism. The arguments and doubts in this process lead
to more problems and questions. This process is very similar to what I
understood in philosophy. The book then
tackles into more history and mathematics combined. He mentions Platonism,
formalism and Humanism which is widely discussed in the book. These are like
different philosophical views on mathematics and are widely discussed in the
book. He gives comparisons and examples to the views which would help the
reader in fully understanding it. The later parts of the book give references
to early mathematicians, more views on philosophy, religion and more.
The
book was a hard read for me. It may not be a good read for some average readers
and more so for some readers like me especially when I really don’t appreciate philosophy.
Although it may have took some time to understand, it gave me a good insight to
the authors love of mathematics, some principles of mathematics mixed together
with philosophy. The book may have explained things a little clearer without
the complicated references and topics.
I agree! The author's claim that the book is easy to read was not true for me. He jumps too much from one philosophy to the next without making strong arguments to each. The book's hard to fully understand without cross-referencing.
ReplyDeleteI am now convinced that Hersh is really in love with math to the point that he wants other people to share the same view he has. I like how he organized his thoughts on the book but I guess maybe a little more background about the philosophies presented would make me more interested. I also agree that it was really so hard to understand and i appreciate his effort in making me try to love math
ReplyDeleteThe book is indeed not an easy read. Though I can see Hersh efforts in the first parts of the book of which he was trying to express concepts as simple as he can. However, he also applies philosophical approach at the same time that's making the reader rethink.
ReplyDelete