I think there are two issues here: firstly the question of method, and secondly the question of prohibitions and commands. It's not clear at all that mathematics has a method in the same way that other, more procedural, science (such as experimental psychology, for example) have. The main problem here is that mathematics generally proceeds by finding proofs, and, though there may be a method for validating proofs (maybe, though I'm not sure about the semi-formal proofs that you will find in maths journals) there is not really a method for finding them. It is true that you often find the phrase "mathematical method" in the philosophical literature. This probably stems from seventeenth century philosophy, when there certainly were attempts to find methods for finding theorems, or for constructing solutions to equations. None of these attempts really worked (Gaukroger's biography of Descartes is a good introduction to this). So I don't think that you are really asking about method, but about the logical form of mathematical definitions, and whether they should contain prohibitions as well as commands. It's an interesting suggestion: you would probably have to formulate it intuitionistically in order to get a difference between prohibitions and commands. There might be some game-theoretic semantics which would help. Anybody else know anything about this? Graham On 25/06/12 07:47, Venkata Rayudu Posina wrote:
Dear All,
Is the method of mathematics a discipline in the Kantian sense of containing deviation [with ‘do not’] from rule (in addition to being confined to rule with definition)?
For example, in studying the definition of function I, in addition to drawing an internal diagram with an arrow from every dot in domain to a dot in codomain, do not draw more than one arrow from any dot in the domain. But the problem with attending to ‘do not’ is a problem of enumerating error(s).
I’d appreciate very much any corrections and clarifications that you, your time permitting, could provide.
Thank you, posina
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