Lawvere and Leibniz

[David Roberts <david.roberts@adelaide.edu.au>]

Hi all,

here is an philosophy article perhaps of interest to some on the list

http://www.newappsblog.com/2011/11/the-truth-about-infinitesimals.html

discussing the contrast between the 'old' solution (Weierstrass et al) to
non-rigorous calculus a la Leibniz and the new solutions, nonstandard analysis
and SDG, but mostly the latter. Not all ideas are credited, so only Lawvere
is mentioned, and not Grothendieck, A. Kock, or others who contributed to
the development of the philosophy of 'infinitesimals' in geometry.

I think it is a nice advertisement for category theory, even mentioning the
phrase 'The world or category of smooth spaces and smooth maps...'.


David


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