Rigorous proof and the history of mathematics

comments on Crowe

Douglas Jesseph

pp. 449-453

in: Synthese 83 (3), 1990.

Abstract

Duhem's portrayal of the history of mathematics as manifesting calm and regular development is traced to his conception of mathematical rigor as an essentially static concept. This account is undermined by citing controversies over rigorous demonstration from the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.