Abstract

Becker gives a brief survey of the philosophically relevant aspects to be found in the history of mathematics, starting with the Pythagorean conception of numbers and its fate at the hands of Plato and Aristotle. He considers the development of the exact sciences based on mathematics, paying particular attention to the problems in pure mathematics. In the final chapter the limitations of mathematical reasoning are examined. Nothing new is presented, but then that is not its purpose. The survey presupposes no special competence in either mathematics or logic.--L. S. F.