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Proofs and Refutations

The Logic of Mathematical Discovery

Bibliographic Data

ID23398694
EditorsImre Lakatos, John Worrall (0000-0001-5229-5152), Élie Zahar
Year1976
Publication date1976-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueProofs and Refutations (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9781139171472
OpenAlexW2011043790
Open LibraryOL34478403M
ISBN9781139171472
LanguageEN
Citations received288
References cited15

Proofs and Refutations is essential reading for all those interested in the methodology, the philosophy and the history of mathematics. Much of the book takes the form of a discussion between a teacher and his students. They propose various solutions to some mathematical problems and investigate the strengths and weaknesses of these solutions. Their discussion (which mirrors certain real developments in the history of mathematics) raises some philosophical problems and some problems about the nature of mathematical discovery or creativity. Imre Lakatos is concerned throughout to combat the classical picture of mathematical development as a steady accumulation of established truths. He shows that mathematics grows instead through a richer, more dramatic process of the successive improvement of creative hypotheses by attempts to 'prove' them and by criticism of these attempts: the logic of proofs and refutations.

Algorithm · Calculus (dental) · Epistemology · Mathematical logic · Mathematical practice · Mathematical proof · Mathematics education · Philosophy of Mathematics · Philosophy of science · Political science · Relevance (law) · Computer Science · History and Theory of Mathematics · Law · Mathematical and Theoretical Analysis · Mathematics · Medicine · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History · Beweistheorie · Formalismus (Mathematik) · Kritik · Logic, symbolic and mathematical · Mathematik · Mathematische Logik · Symbolic and mathematical Logic

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Unique citing works288
Citations per year6
Citation span1978 - 2026 (49)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedYes
Citation typesNeutral: 260
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