Mark van Atten
Phenomenology and transcendental argument in mathematics
Abstract: In this talk I will illustrate how Brouwer's specific conception of mathematical objects and proofs as mental entities, a conception which need not be shared by other views on constructive mathematics, allowed him to use a method of reasoning which was made famous by Kant and is known as a 'transcendental argument'. Brouwer exploited this in his proof of the 'bar theorem'. I will discuss Brouwer's use of this technique against the background of differences between Brouwer's and Gödel's views on constructive mathematics.
About Mark van Atten
Mark van Atten (1973) studied Artificial Intelligence at the university of Utrecht as well as Philosophy at Utrecht and Harvard. Before joining CNRS in 2003, he was a postdoc at the Brouwer Archives in Utrecht and at the Husserl Archives in Leuven. His main areas of research are philosophy of mathematics and idealistic philosophy; in particular, he works on Brouwer and Gödel from a Husserlian point of view. He has published two books: On Brouwer (Wadsworth, 2003) and Brouwer meets Husserl: On the phenomenology of choice sequences (Springer, 2007).
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