What Is Mathematics, Really?
E1007448
"What Is Mathematics, Really?" is a philosophical book by Reuben Hersh that explores the nature of mathematics as a human, social activity rather than a collection of eternal truths.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| What Is Mathematics, Really? canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T12852830 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: What Is Mathematics, Really? Context triple: [Reuben Hersh, notableWork, What Is Mathematics, Really?]
-
A.
Introduction to Mathematical Thinking: The Formation of Concepts in Modern Mathematics
Introduction to Mathematical Thinking: The Formation of Concepts in Modern Mathematics is a philosophical and foundational study in which Friedrich Waismann analyzes how mathematical concepts are formed, clarified, and used in modern mathematics.
-
B.
The Mathematical Experience
The Mathematical Experience is a widely acclaimed book that explores the nature, history, philosophy, and human side of mathematics in an accessible and reflective way.
-
C.
What is Mathematics?
"What is Mathematics?" is a classic introductory book on mathematics by Richard Courant (with Herbert Robbins) that explains fundamental mathematical ideas and methods to a broad audience with clarity and rigor.
-
D.
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences is a landmark 1960 essay by physicist Eugene Wigner that explores why abstract mathematics so powerfully and mysteriously describes physical reality.
-
E.
How is pure mathematics possible?
"How is pure mathematics possible?" is a central guiding question in Immanuel Kant’s *Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics*, where he investigates the conditions that make synthetic a priori knowledge in mathematics possible.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: What Is Mathematics, Really? Target entity description: "What Is Mathematics, Really?" is a philosophical book by Reuben Hersh that explores the nature of mathematics as a human, social activity rather than a collection of eternal truths.
-
A.
Introduction to Mathematical Thinking: The Formation of Concepts in Modern Mathematics
Introduction to Mathematical Thinking: The Formation of Concepts in Modern Mathematics is a philosophical and foundational study in which Friedrich Waismann analyzes how mathematical concepts are formed, clarified, and used in modern mathematics.
-
B.
The Mathematical Experience
The Mathematical Experience is a widely acclaimed book that explores the nature, history, philosophy, and human side of mathematics in an accessible and reflective way.
-
C.
What is Mathematics?
"What is Mathematics?" is a classic introductory book on mathematics by Richard Courant (with Herbert Robbins) that explains fundamental mathematical ideas and methods to a broad audience with clarity and rigor.
-
D.
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences is a landmark 1960 essay by physicist Eugene Wigner that explores why abstract mathematics so powerfully and mysteriously describes physical reality.
-
E.
How is pure mathematics possible?
"How is pure mathematics possible?" is a central guiding question in Immanuel Kant’s *Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics*, where he investigates the conditions that make synthetic a priori knowledge in mathematics possible.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (41)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
book
ⓘ
non-fiction book ⓘ philosophy of mathematics book ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
explain what mathematics is as actually practiced
ⓘ
make philosophy of mathematics accessible ⓘ |
| argues |
mathematical knowledge is fallible
ⓘ
mathematical objects are not eternal abstract entities ⓘ mathematical practice is shaped by communities ⓘ |
| author | Reuben Hersh ⓘ |
| compares | Platonism, formalism, and humanism in mathematics ⓘ |
| countryOfPublication |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| describes |
mathematics as a human activity
ⓘ
mathematics as a social activity ⓘ mathematics as part of human culture ⓘ |
| discusses |
history of mathematical ideas
ⓘ
philosophical schools in mathematics ⓘ practice of working mathematicians ⓘ |
| genre |
philosophy of mathematics
ⓘ
popular mathematics ⓘ |
| hasForm | prose ⓘ |
| hasPart |
case studies from mathematical practice
ⓘ
historical examples ⓘ philosophical discussion ⓘ |
| hasPerspective |
anti-foundationalist view of mathematics
ⓘ
naturalistic view of mathematics ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Imre Lakatos
ⓘ
social constructivism ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainSubject |
human activity in mathematics
ⓘ
nature of mathematics ⓘ philosophy of mathematics ⓘ social nature of mathematics ⓘ |
| opposes |
formalism in mathematics
ⓘ
mathematical Platonism ⓘ strict logicism in mathematics ⓘ |
| positionDefended |
mathematical humanism
ⓘ
social constructivism about mathematics ⓘ |
| publisher | Oxford University Press ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
general educated readers
ⓘ
mathematicians ⓘ philosophers of mathematics ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: What Is Mathematics, Really? Description of subject: "What Is Mathematics, Really?" is a philosophical book by Reuben Hersh that explores the nature of mathematics as a human, social activity rather than a collection of eternal truths.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.