Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

5-2025

Department

Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science

Keywords

book review, What is Mathematics Really, Reuben Hersh

Abstract

Reuben Hersh’s 1997 book What is Mathematics, Really? popularized a trend in the philosophy of mathematics that was gaining some traction at the time it was written. This essay examines Hersh’s work within the broader historical context of 19th- and 20th-century developments in mathematics and philosophy of mathematics. It also focuses on Hersh’s antagonism toward the influence of religion on (philosophy of) mathematics, concluding by briefly considering two positions taken by Christian mathematicians associated with ACMS in defense of such a connection.

Comments

Reviewed Title: What is Mathematics, Really? by Reuben Hersh. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 343 pp. ISBN: 9780585356662.

Online access to book review contained in the issue:

Reuben Hersh's What is Mathematics, Really?

Source Publication Title

ACMS Journal and Proceedings

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

Volume

24

First Page

272

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Included in

Mathematics Commons

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