Social constructivism as a philosophy of mathematics
By: Paul Ernest.
Series: SUNY series in science, technology, and society; SUNY series, reform in mathematics education
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Mathematics -- Philosophy.; Constructivism (Philosophy)
Description: The book offers novel analyses of the important but under-recognized contributions of Wittgenstein and Lakatos to the philosophy of mathematics. Building on their ideas, it develops a theory of mathematical knowledge and its relation to the social context. It offers an original theory of mathematical knowledge based on the concept of conversation, and develops the rhetoric of mathematics to account for proof in mathematics.

Another novel feature is the account of the social construction of subjective knowledge, which relates the learning of mathematics to philosophy of mathematics via the development of the individual mathematician. It concludes by considering the values of mathematics and its social responsibility.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 279-303) and index.