Customer Reviews

Remarks on the Foundation of Mathematics

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If you are interested in the philosophy of mathematics, this is the book for you! No special knowledge of mathematics or philosophy is needed to read and understand this book. Some prior experience with philosophy would be helpful, though,just to get you used to discussing philosophy. Some reading of other philosophy books by Wittgenstein, especially Philosophical Investigations or On Certainty would be helpful, to get you used to Wittgenstein's unusual style of writing. But if you haven't read any philosophy before reading Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics, don't worry, it isn't necessary.

Wittgenstein seems to think that mathematics is a language as German, or French, or English are languages. Mathematics is a human language, he says.He discusses the way we learn mathematics and also what constitutes proofs of mathematical theorems.

This is an extremely interesting book to read, but it is not something you can sit down and read in one sitting. It will take a few sittings to get through it all. For myself, this was because I had to stop frequently and think of the implications of what Wittgenstein was saying. For example, he says that the mathematiciam creates essences. I had to re-evaluate my conception of mathematics after reading this statement.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book to read and it changed the way I view the world of mathematics.