Language and Mathematics Different views and fruitful influences in Greece and China

Jan.25, 2024, 10:00—12:00 AM 

Room No. 210, Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, CAS

Abstract：

Mathematicians at different times, in different regions and social settings have developed different tools and techniques. The history of mathematics is a treasure-grove which reveals the wealth and variety of human thought. It also leads to the question how our cultural background shapes the way we reason. The speaker wants to draw attention to one way in which culture may influence mathematical practice: attitudes towards language.

Speaker：Eva Henke

Eva Henke has studied mathematics and philosophy in Berlin and Shanghai. Since 2022 she is enrolled as a PhD-student in philosophy at Humboldt University of Berlin. In her PhD-thesis, supervised by Prof. Michael Beaney and Prof. Andrea Bréard, she compares philosophical aspects of Liu Hui's Commentary to the Nine Chapters on Mathematical Procedures and Euclid's Elements. From September 2023 to January 2024 she is visiting at the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Department of Comprehensive Research in History of Science and Technology

Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

No. 55, Zhongguancun East Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China