The social life of numbers
Subtitle: a Quechua ontology of numbers and philosophy of arithmetic
By: Gary Urton with the collaboration of Primitivo Nina Llanos.
Contributors: Nina Llanos, Primitivo.
Edition: 1st University of Texas Press ed.
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Austin
Language: eng
Number of pages: 267
Subjects: Quechua Indians -- Mathematics.; Quechua language -- Numerals.; Quechua philosophy.; Quipu.
Description: Unraveling all the mysteries of the khipu - the knotted string device used by the Inka to record both statistical data and narrative accounts of myths, histories, and genealogies - will require an understanding of how number values and relations may have been used to encode information on social, familial, and political relationships and structures.

This is the problem Gary Urton tackles in his pathfinding study of the origin, meaning, and significance of numbers and the philosophical principles underlying the practice of arithmetic among Quechua-speaking peoples of the Andes.

Based on fieldwork in communities around Sucre, in south-central Bolivia, Urton argues that the origin and meaning of numbers were and are conceived of by Quechua-speaking peoples in ways similar to their ideas about, and formulations of gender, age, and social relations.

He also demonstrates that their practice of arithmetic is based on a well-articulated body of philosophical principles and values that reflects a continuous attempt to maintain balance, harmony, and equilibrium in the material, social, and moral spheres of community life.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-253) and index.