Proofs and Pictures
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8397237 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James Robert Brown (0000-0002-8947-4821, University of Toronto, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 161-180 |
| Publication date | 1997-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-0882 • E-ISSN: 1464-3537 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/bjps/48.2.161 |
| OpenAlex | W2020490178 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 9 |
Everyone appreciates a clever mathematical picture, but the prevailing attitude is one of scepticism: diagrams, illustrations, and pictures prove nothing; they are psychologically important and heuristically useful, but only a traditional verbal/symbolic proof provides genuine evidence for a purported theorem. Like some other recent writers (Barwise and Etchemendy [1991]; Shin [1994]; and Giaquinto [1994]) I take a different view and argue, from historical considerations and some striking examples, for a positive evidential role for pictures in mathematics.
Epistemology · Mathematical proof · Nothing · Skepticism · History and Theory of Mathematics · Mathematics · Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,3 |
| Citation span | 1999 - 2022 (24) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |