Proofs And Refutations by Imre Lakatos
The Logic of Mathematical Discovery
A lively, dialogue-based account of how mathematical knowledge is actually generated and improved: conjectures are proposed, ‘proofs’ are offered and then overturned by counterexamples, leading to revised definitions, methods like monster-barring and exception-barring, and progressively more robust theorems. It rejects the view of mathematics as a purely deductive, formal enterprise and presents instead a heuristic, fallibilist methodology in which criticism, refutation, and conceptual change drive progress. Through historical case studies recast as Socratic exchanges, it shows that proof is a social, revisable achievement rather than the final word, and outlines a philosophy of mathematics centered on imaginative problem-solving and continual testing.
- Published
- 1976
- Nationality
- British
- Length
- Unknown
- Pages
- Unknown
- Original Language
- English
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