rapaport@sunybcs.UUCP (William J. Rapaport) (11/05/86)
SUNY Buffalo BUFFALO LOGIC COLLOQUIUM SANFORD SEGAL Department of Mathematics University of Rochester "Nazi Mathematics: Philosophy and Pedagogy" Wednesday, November 19, 1986 4:00 p.m. Diefendorf 103, Main Street Campus During the Nazi regime in Germany, an attempt was made to discern a par- ticularly _German_ mathematics (as opposed to the mathematics of other nationalities or ethnic groups). "_Deutsche Mathematik_" was both a movement and a journal (1936-1943). Because the "facts" of mathematics were acknowledged as having universal validity, this movement emphasized pedagogical and philosophical issues. The situation in mathematics was thus quite different from that in physics or chemistry, where some of the actual "facts" of the subject matter were disputed. A substantial number of mathematicians, some of them quite famous, were Nazi sympathizers or "fellow-travelers" (though not all of these were involved in "Deutsche Mathematik"). In addition to the usual motives such as genuine belief in the Nazi movement or "settling old scores", a number of more complicated reasons motivated both these mathematicians and the _Deutsche Mathematiker_. Among them were that some long- traditional modes of thought in the social sciences and pedagogy at the time supported such interpretations, that there was a genuine fear that mathematics might be destroyed in the name of irrationalism and anti- mathematical thought then sweeping Germany, that a prominent group of Nazi psychologists identified mathematics as the ideal testing ground for theories of racial differences, and conflicts among mathematicians over appropriate approaches to the doing of mathematics. These various aspects will be briefly discussed with an emphasis on the philosophical and pedagogical issues involved and the intellectual rationale offered by some Nazi mathematicians. Coffee in the Mathematics Common Room at 3:30 p.m. Dutch treat supper following the colloquium. Please call (716) 636-2438 for reservations before November 18. William J. Rapaport Assistant Professor Dept. of Computer Science, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260 (716) 636-3193, 3180 uucp: ..!{allegra,decvax,watmath,rocksanne}!sunybcs!rapaport csnet: rapaport@buffalo.csnet bitnet: rapaport@sunybcs.bitnet