Abstract
EVERY serious inquiry leads, sooner or later, to metaphysics, and thus to antinomies which no merely logical process can reconcile. The pure mathematician is one of the first to reach this conclusion, because his methods are mainly logical, and the notions with which he deals are few and abstract. Why is it, then, that (as a rule) he regards the philosopher with a mixture of pity and disdain, and rarely takes part in any strictly metaphysical discussion? Each is vitally concerned with number, space and time; why do the conclusions of the one appeal so little to those of the other? Leaving the philosopher to answer for himself, we may endeavour to construct the mathematician's apology.
Die Grundsätze unddas Wesen des Unendlichen in der Mathematik und Philosophie.
Von Dr. Phil. Kurt Geissler. Pp. viii + 417. (Leipzig: Teubner, 1902.) Price 14 marks.
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M., G. Die Grundsätze unddas Wesen des Unendlichen in der Mathematik und Philosophie . Nature 67, 387–388 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/067387a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/067387a0