Dear Colin,
Are you thinking of remarks like the ones Gauss wrote to his friend
Schumacher on November 1, 1844:
"You see the same sort of thing [mathematical incompetence]
in the contemporary philosophers Schelling, Hegel, Nees von
Essenbeck, and their followers; don't they make your hair
stand on end with their definitions? Read in the history of
ancient philosophy what the big men of that day--Plato and
others (I except Aristotle)--gave in the way of explanations.
But even with Kant himself it is often not much better; in
my opinion his distinction between analytic and synthetic
propositions is one of those things that either run out in
a triviality or are false."
[I am borrowing this passage from Bell. In this case, I have not checked
the original source, yet I suspect Bell's quotation is not fictitious]
Must it be inferred from this isolated passage concerning mathematical
technicalities that Gauss had no appreciation of philosophy? ...
Bell goes to say that "All philosophical advances had a great charm for
him [Gauss], although he often disapproved of the means by which they
had been attained".
Any comments? ...
All the best,
Julio Gonzalez Cabillon