How Our Emotions and Bodies are Vital for Abstract Thought
Perfect Mathematics for Imperfect Minds
Seiten
2018
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-138-56586-9 (ISBN)
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-138-56586-9 (ISBN)
The book describes the mechanisms that make formal logic possible, before discussing errors that occur in our cortical constructs, and the implications this has for abstract thought. The book then goes on to explore the roles of emotion and embodiment, and the unique relationship they have in minimising the shortcomings of our physiology to provide us with an understanding of mathematics.
If mathematics is the purest form of knowledge, the perfect foundation of all the hard sciences, and a uniquely precise discipline, then how can the human brain, an imperfect and imprecise organ, process mathematical ideas? Is mathematics made up of eternal, universal truths? Or, as some have claimed, could mathematics simply be a human invention, a kind of tool or metaphor?
These questions are among the greatest enigmas of science and epistemology, discussed at length by mathematicians, physicians, and philosophers. But, curiously enough, neuroscientists have been absent in the debate, even though it is precisely the field of neuroscience—which studies the brain’s mechanisms for thinking and reasoning—that ought to be at the very center of these discussions.
How our Emotions and Bodies are Vital for Abstract Thought explores the unique mechanisms of cooperation between the body, emotions, and the cortex, based on fundamental physical principles. It is these mechanisms that help us to overcome the limitations of our physiology and allow our imperfect, human brains to make transcendent mathematical discoveries.
This book is written for anyone who is interested in the nature of abstract thought, including mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
If mathematics is the purest form of knowledge, the perfect foundation of all the hard sciences, and a uniquely precise discipline, then how can the human brain, an imperfect and imprecise organ, process mathematical ideas? Is mathematics made up of eternal, universal truths? Or, as some have claimed, could mathematics simply be a human invention, a kind of tool or metaphor?
These questions are among the greatest enigmas of science and epistemology, discussed at length by mathematicians, physicians, and philosophers. But, curiously enough, neuroscientists have been absent in the debate, even though it is precisely the field of neuroscience—which studies the brain’s mechanisms for thinking and reasoning—that ought to be at the very center of these discussions.
How our Emotions and Bodies are Vital for Abstract Thought explores the unique mechanisms of cooperation between the body, emotions, and the cortex, based on fundamental physical principles. It is these mechanisms that help us to overcome the limitations of our physiology and allow our imperfect, human brains to make transcendent mathematical discoveries.
This book is written for anyone who is interested in the nature of abstract thought, including mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, psychologists, and psychiatrists.
Anna Sverdlik is a clinical psychiatrist at Tel Hashomer, a major Israeli hospital. She specializes in brain injury and neurocognitive disorders.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Chapter 1. The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics
Chapter 2. Why logic is never ideal
Chapter 3. Working memory and logical limitations
Chapter 4. Overpowered by emotion
Chapter 5. From cognition to recognition and back again
Chapter 6. Non-algorithmic thinking machine?
Chapter 7. How mathematics can outwit physiology
Afterword
Index
| Erscheinungsdatum | 14.08.2018 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 1 Tables, black and white; 6 Line drawings, black and white; 9 Halftones, black and white |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 156 x 234 mm |
| Gewicht | 340 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Allgemeine Psychologie |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Entwicklungspsychologie | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Pädagogische Psychologie | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Verhaltenstherapie | |
| Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-138-56586-5 / 1138565865 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-138-56586-9 / 9781138565869 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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