1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910300614203321

Autore

Fenstad Jens Erik

Titolo

Structures and Algorithms : Mathematics and the Nature of Knowledge / / by Jens Erik Fenstad

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2018

ISBN

3-319-72974-8

Edizione

[1st ed. 2018.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (138 pages)

Collana

Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning, Interdisciplinary Perspectives from the Humanities and Social Sciences, , 2214-9139 ; ; 15

Disciplina

100

Soggetti

Knowledge, Theory of

Mathematical logic

Machine theory

Mathematics - Philosophy

Language and languages - Philosophy

Epistemology

Mathematical Logic and Foundations

Formal Languages and Automata Theory

Philosophy of Mathematics

Philosophy of Language

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

1.Preface -- 2.Introduction -- 3.Mathematics and the nature of knowledge – an introductory essay -- 4.The miraculous left hand – Leonardo and the nature of knowledge -- 5.Relationships between the social and natural sciences -- 6.Changes in the knowledge system and their implications for the formative stage of scholars -- 7.Remarks on the science and technology of language -- 8.How mathematics is rooted in life -- 9.Tarski, truth and natural languages -- 10.Formal semantics, geometry and mind -- 11.Discours, Interaction and Communication -- 12.On what there is – infinitesimals and the nature of numbers.

Sommario/riassunto

This book explains exactly what human knowledge is. The key concepts in this book are structures and algorithms, i.e., what the readers “see”



and how they make use of what they see. Thus in comparison with some other books on the philosophy (or methodology) of science, which employ a syntactic approach, the author’s approach is model theoretic or structural. Properly understood, it extends the current art and science of mathematical modeling to all fields of knowledge. The link between structure and algorithms is mathematics. But viewing “mathematics” as such a link is not exactly what readers most likely learned in school; thus, the task of this book is to explain what “mathematics” should actually mean. Chapter 1, an introductory essay, presents a general analysis of structures, algorithms and how they are to be linked. Several examples from the natural and social sciences, and from the history of knowledge, are provided in Chapters 2–6. In turn, Chapters 7 and 8 extend the analysis to include language and the mind. Structures are what the readers see. And, as abstract cultural objects, they can almost always be seen in many different ways. But certain structures, such as natural numbers and the basic theory of grammar, seem to have an absolute character. Any theory of knowledge grounded in human culture must explain how this is possible. The author’s analysis of this cultural invariance, combining insights from evolutionary theory and neuroscience, is presented in the book’s closing chapter. The book will be of interest to researchers, students and those outside academia who seek a deeper understanding of knowledge in our present-day society.