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Title: Mathematics: Is God Silent? by James Nickel ISBN: 1-879998-22-X Publisher: Ross House Books Pub. Date: January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (3 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Good material, weak argument.
Comment: This is a pretty good book on the history and philosophy of mathematics for interested laymen and high-school and college students. There is a wealth of interesting material, an extensive bibliography, and a careful and complete index.
The central philosphical argument is that the similarity of structure of the physical world and that of many branches of mathematics shows that God made them both, and therefore that mathematics is Platonically pre-existing and hence discovered, not invented, by man.
The fallacy, I think, is that most of mathematics, and especially most of the mathematics Nickel cites, was occasioned and designed for the explicit purpose of providing models for nature. In short, I cannot be surprised that the models resemble the things modeled, any more than that a map should resemble the terrain it describes. .
As an evangelical Christian mathematician and computer scientist, I was hoping for a book that set forth the "discovered, not invented" argument with logical clarity, for I have been puzzled by that view. Disappointingly, this book isn't it. Fundamentally it presses the argument first by assertion, and then by testimonials of agreement by various mathematicians. Nickels also extensively uses quotations from the many works of theologian and philosopher of science Stanley Jaki. He does not, so far as I see, address the "mathematics as modeling tool" argument.
Nickels does a fair and clear job of expressing what he calls "the majority view", that mathematics is invented, and he cites various scientists holding that view.
Rating: 5
Summary: Masterpiece: Tracing the Historical Significance of Math
Comment: James Nickel's work is a masterpiece! It does an excellent job of tracing the historical development of mathematics and reviewing its impact on history and philosophy. It is relatively easy reading, but not for lower than the high school level. Nickel clearly communicates the loud voice mathematics has had in showing God's hand in creation. He shows, from philosophical history, the societal implications when men fail to explicitily recognize God's role in mathematics.
Rating: 5
Summary: Nickels shows the necessity of a Biblical worldview for Math
Comment: This book is delightful reading and a great aid to the Christian mathematics teacher. Nickels put mathematics into its historical context and in so doing shows how its development requires a fundamental assumption that the world we live in is rational and harmoniously ordered. Only the biblical God provides such a context.
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Title: Mathematics in a Postmodern Age: A Christian Perspective by Russell W. Howell, James Bradley ISBN: 0802849105 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by S. Wise Bauer, Susan Wise Bauer ISBN: 0393050947 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title:The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (Platinum Series Special Extended Edition) ASIN: B00009TB5G Publisher: New Line Home Entertainment Pub. Date: 18 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $25.99 |
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