Abstract
All over the world philosophy is commonly taken to be centrally concerned with fundamental considerations about life and society. From such a perspective, mathematics and logic are very remote from philosophy indeed. Yet within the European tradition they have often occupied a conspicuous position in the pursuit of philosophy, beginning with the surprising devotion to ‘pure thought’ (or, in Husserl’s words, the ‘passion to know’) displayed in Greek philosophy. Given this devotion (or ‘passion’), the interest in mathematics and logic is not so hard to understand, since they are concerned with the ‘clean’ (in the sense of being abstract or idealized) and fundamental (in the sense of being universal) aspect of knowledge and reality. Indeed, according to a suggestive caricature, the spirit of Greek philosophical thought is said to be ‘unworldly,’ whereas that of the Chinese is said to be ‘worldly’ and that of the Indian ‘other worldly.’
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Springer-Verlag Wien
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wang, H. (1990). Philosophy Through Mathematics and Logic. In: Haller, R., Brandl, J. (eds) Wittgenstein — Eine Neubewertung / Wittgenstein — Towards a Re-Evaluation. Schriftenreihe der Wittgenstein-Gesellschaft, vol 19/1. J.F. Bergmann-Verlag, Munich. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-30086-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-30086-2_13
Publisher Name: J.F. Bergmann-Verlag, Munich
Print ISBN: 978-3-209-01122-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-30086-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive