Two new Cambridge Elements on Phil. Maths

Just briefly to note that there are two new short contributions in the Cambridge Elements series in the Philosophy of Mathematics, both free to download for another week. The Euclidean Programme by Alex Paseau and Wesley Wrigley critically examines the traditional idea that mathematical knowledge is obtained by deduction from self-evident axioms or first principles. How much of that idea can be rescued?

And Number Concepts by Richard Samuels and Eric Snyder takes an interdisciplinary approach to reviewing and critically assessing work on number concepts in developmental psychology and cognitive science. (And after all, shouldn’t philosophers of arithmetic be interested in the concepts deployed by folk arithmeticians?)

So far, contributions in this series have been, it seems to me, a rather mixed bunch. So naive induction is little guide, in this case, as to how worthwhile these new efforts will prove to be. But let’s live in hope. When I’ve had a chance to take a proper look, I’ll let you know what I think. But I thought I would post a quick note straight away, while these two Elements are still freely downloadable, and you can judge them for yourself.

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