Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T14:56:11.942Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - From Mereology to Mathematics

from Part II - Kant’s Theory of Magnitudes, Intuition, and Measurement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2021

Daniel Sutherland
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Get access

Summary

Kant’s reworking of the Euclidean theory of magnitudes and reformation of the Leibnizian-Wolffian metaphysics of quantity are in service of his project of explaining the foundations of mathematical cognition and the mathematical character of experience. The previous chapters revealed that Kant’s account is fundamentally mereological. The categories of quantity allow us to represent the part–whole relations among magnitudes, and Kant’s understanding of the role of the categories of quantity, the nature of composition, and the definitions of extensive and intensive magnitudes are all mereological. This introduces a gap between Kant’s mereological account of magnitudes and Euclid’s notion of magnitude for the latter is implicitly defined by its role in the theory of proportions – a richer, mathematical notion of magnitude. This prompts a closer look at what makes Euclid’s understanding of magnitudes mathematical. This chapter argues that Euclid’s geometry presupposes a tacit theory of measurement that is general, pure, and concrete, a theory that crucially depends on the relation of equality. It traces these presuppositions through the Euclidean tradition. It then argues that Kant also tacitly assumed the theory of measurement, but that he was aware of the crucial role that equality plays in bridging the gap between mereology and mathematics.

Type
Chapter
Information
Kant's Mathematical World
Mathematics, Cognition, and Experience
, pp. 240 - 280
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×