Anxiety and Abstraction in Nineteenth-Century Mathematics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4516453 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jeremy J Gray, Jeremy Gray (The Open University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 23-47 |
| Publication date | 2004-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science in Context (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0269-8897 • E-ISSN: 1474-0664 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0269889704000043 |
| OpenAlex | W2167462256 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 2 |
The first part of this paper surveys the current literature in the history of nineteenth-century mathematics in order to show that the question "Did the increasing abstraction of mathematics lead to a sense of anxiety?" is a new and valid question. I argue that the mathematics of the nineteenth century is marked by a growing appreciation of error leading to a note of anxiety, hesitant at first but persistent by 1900. This mounting disquiet about so many aspects of mathematics after 1850 is seldom discussed. The second part explores the issue of anxiety in mathematical life through an interesting account of an address made by a mathematician in 1911, Oscar Perron. The third and final part ventures some conclusions about the value of anxiety as a question for historians of mathematics to pursue
Abstraction · Anxiety · Economics · Epistemology · Mathematics education · Psychiatry · Statistics · Historical and Literary Studies · History and Theory of Mathematics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy, Science, and History · Psychology
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,2 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2021 (16) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |