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Born
Nanci, France -
Period: to
Writings against logicism
Through both periodical writings and his own published books, Poincare challenges the logicist approach to scientific philosophy. Poincare argues that logicists are using a conveniently adapted interpretation of logic to support their ideas. This appears to have bee true, as modern logical philosophy admittedly works on top of some presupposed ideas about reality. Poincare presented his ideas about intuition and induction, as a critique of what he felt was a disingenuous stance by logicists. -
Science and Hypothesis
Poincare did not refer specifically to the hierarchy of sciences, but that has been the description of his ideas in this work. Poincare argued that sciences presuppose one another (i.e. physics presupposes geometry, geometry presupposes arithmetic, etc.). The idea that Poincare expressed was not that each science could be deconstructed into the presupposed ones before it, but that each science is an expansion and continuation of presupposed sciences that lay a foundation for growth. -
The Value Of Science
Poincare expands on his writing regarding intuition and induction. Poincare presented views opposing logicists throughout his writings, and he continues to make his case for induction. Poincare defines three types of intuition regarding math : sense and imagination, generalization, and pure number. The idea is that one cannot even begin arithmetic through pure logic, without the intuition and induction of empirical observation. (Poincare Henri, The Value of Sciences, 1905) -
Died
Paris, France
