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Homotopy type theory and the vertical unity of concepts in mathematics

Corfield, David (2017) Homotopy type theory and the vertical unity of concepts in mathematics. In: de Freitas, Elizabeth and Sinclair, Nathalie and Coles, Alf, eds. What is a Mathematical Concept? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 125-142. ISBN 978-1-316-47112-8. (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:64072)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316471128

Abstract

The mathematician Alexander Borovik speaks of the importance of the `vertical unity' of mathematics. By this he means to draw our attention to the fact that many sophisticated mathematical concepts, even those introduced at the cutting-edge of research, have their roots in our most basic conceptualisations of the world. If this is so, we might expect any truly fundamental mathematical language to detect such structural commonalities. It is reasonable to suppose then that the lack of philosophical interest in such vertical unity is related to the prominence given by philosophers to languages which do not express well such relations. In this chapter, I suggest that we look beyond set theory to the newly emerging homotopy type theory, which makes plain what there is in common between very simple aspects of logic, arithmetic and geometry and much more sophisticated concepts. With this language in mind, new light is thrown on thenature of mathematical concepts with clear benefits for educationalists.

Item Type: Book section
Uncontrolled keywords: concept; homotopy type theory; vertical unity; arithmetic;space; duality
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: David Corfield
Date Deposited: 18 Oct 2017 09:43 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:49 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/64072 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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