Readings

Our third reading will be Richard Tieszen’s Richard’s Mathematics and Transcendental Phenomenology.

For this session we expect attendants to have read in advance the full second chapter from the book containing the essay; that is:

• Tieszen, R. (2005). Mathematics and Transcendental Phenomenology. In Phenomenology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics (pp. 46–68), Chapter 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The text can be accessed freely by University of Amsterdam students through this link to the library catalogue. (Recently there have been problems when accessing online collections, so it might be necessary to open the link on an incognito tab).

Our second reading will be Paul Benacerraf’s What Numbers Could Not Be.

For this session we expect attendants to have read in advance:

• Benacerraf, Paul. “What Numbers Could Not Be.” The Philosophical Review 74, no. 1 (1965): 47-73.

The article can be accessed freely by University of Amsterdam students through JSTOR, by logging in with the institution.

During the session, Evan will present the paper, followed by a discussion.

Our opening reading will be Brian Rotman’s Towards a Semiotics of Mathematics, where mathematics is presented as an activity essentially done through writing. In order to understand what it means to read and write mathematics and what limitations this imposes on mathematics, Rotman introduces a semiotic model drawing from both Peircean and continental semiotics.

For this session we expect attendants to have read in advance the pages 97-111 from Rotman’s seminal paper: