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The philosophy of Reuben Hersh

a nontechnical assessment

William Labov

pp. 351-354

Abstract

Reuben Hersh and I attended Harvard College in the 1940s. It was during the Second World War, when, as it was said, "they let anyone in." The only training I had in mathematics was a first year Calculus course, and I have been trying to catch up ever since. Connections between philosophy and science may not have been as strong then as they are now. But I remember the reaction of my freshman advisor John Wild, a Thomist philosopher, when he spotted a Chemistry B course on my program. "Where," he asked, "did you get that idolatry of science?" I was stunned. "This man is really intelligent," I thought. "How could he tell from that one course that I have an idolatry of science? Because I do."

Publication details

Published in:

Sriraman Bharath (2017) Humanizing mathematics and its philosophy: essays celebrating the 90th birthday of Reuben Hersh. Basel, Birkhäuser.

Pages: 351-354

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-61231-7_25

Full citation:

Labov William (2017) „The philosophy of Reuben Hersh: a nontechnical assessment“, In: B. Sriraman (ed.), Humanizing mathematics and its philosophy, Basel, Birkhäuser, 351–354.