Spirituality in mathematics

This paper is about spirituality in mathematics. In a phenomenological approach, I analyse spiritual experiences that some mathematicians have while doing mathematics. By analysing autobiographical notes from Western mathematicians of the 20th and 21st century, I conclude that there are four possibl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal for the Study of Spirituality
Main Author: Kessler, Volker 1962- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group [2019]
In: Journal for the Study of Spirituality
Further subjects:B Spirituality
B inner vision
B mathematical beauty
B Gateways
B patterns
B Aesthetics
B Mathematics
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:This paper is about spirituality in mathematics. In a phenomenological approach, I analyse spiritual experiences that some mathematicians have while doing mathematics. By analysing autobiographical notes from Western mathematicians of the 20th and 21st century, I conclude that there are four possible gateways by which spirituality can enter mathematics: (1) pragmatic Platonism; (2) aesthetics, that is, the role of beauty within mathematics; (3) the study of patterns; and (4) the role of inner understanding and inner vision. Examples show that even committed atheists experience spirituality in mathematical research in these terms.
ISSN:2044-0251
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the Study of Spirituality
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/20440243.2019.1581384