>
> I have been following this thread with some interest, and
> wish to present a somewhat different viewpoint on the
> discussion. How far can one appreciate the history of
> mathematics without being a mathematician?
>
I clipped just so much because I want to address the general question and
let others more interested in philosophers focus on the particular
question.
Obviously, any answer hinges on the word "appreciate". This bespeaks a
continuum much as Polya's description of proof (That which convinces you).
Clearly, only a non mathematician can answer the question. There is,
happily, an answer readily available for all of us. The Open
University offers a course in the History of Mathematics. Anyone,
mathematician or not, who has studied its curriculum realizes that it was
not offered primarily for mathematicians. Any intelligent person with a
good background in high school mathematics can take the course, learn much
of the history of mathematics without doing a lot of high powered
mathematics.
I am reminded of the beginning of my own interest in the history of
mathematics. The late Robert Lyons of Arizona State Teachers College (now
ASU) was doing his best to teach me College Algebra. Somewhere during the
semester he suggested that I read ETBells' "Men of Mathematics". I was
hooked! The book also provided me with additional motivation to wade
through the C.A.
Barney