At 12:35 PM 2/8/99 +0000, Alfred Ross wrote:
>
> I'm interested in the 'historical study' (and philosophical aspects)
> of historiography of mathematics. This may include:
>
> + The study of the evolution of research methods
> + New subfields (within math history) that have been opened
> up during this century (ethnomathematics, for instance)
> + The weight of (or different sensitivity to) 'interpretation'
> + Whiggism
> + The different approach to minority groups
>
> Paul J Cohen once put it
>
> This is our fate, to live with doubts, to pursue a subject
> whose absoluteness we are not certain of, in short to realize
> that the only "true" science is itself of the same mortal,
> perhaps empirical, nature as all other human undertakings.
>
> How historians have handled this "mortal nature" in their general
> histories or papers? Is there any research essay to this respect?
>
> What other issues ought to be considered part of a history/philosophy
> for 'math history'?
>
> Comments or references are appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Alfred Ross
>
--------------------------------------------------------
Israel Kleiner
Department of Mathematics & Statistics
York University
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Tel: 416-736-5250
Fax: 416-736-5757
email: kleiner@home.com