Dear Bob,
I always read your contributions to the HM list with interest. If you
don't understand Klein I suspect that a lot of his readers don't. I don't
claim to have understood him either. But I have taken inspiration from what
I have managed to glean from him.
If you want to get an idea of what I took from him, go to the University
of Bristol web site, then to the Philosopy and in my entry you can call up
my web page. There you can access the preface and the first two chapters of
my book. The preface will give you an idea of Klein's influence on me. The
first chapter contains some general observations on what a foundation for
mathematics should consist in, and the second an attempt to relate the
modern notion of set to the classical notion of arithmos.
It might be useful to start with the last chapter of Klein's book. The
first section on Stevin is impenetrable to me, but the later ones are more
accessible.

John

--On 25 November 2006 09:18 -0500 Robert Eldon Taylor
<philologos@...> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> JP Mayberry, Research Fellow,Department of Philosophy wrote:
>> I was hoping the group would consider the later parts of his book, but
>> the discussion seemed to get bogged down on Plato. I wrote a book on
>> the foundations of mathematics which was greatly inspired by Klein's
>> ideas about the development of the concept of number.
>
> I presume you refer to "The foundations of mathematics in the theory of
> sets", Cambridge, 2000 (it's ok to plug your book here).
>
> If your book was inspired by Klein's ideas, you must have a clearer
> understanding of what Klein was thinking than I do. Perhaps you could
> give us a run down on what his book is all about. I read Klein
> frequently, but with little or no understanding. He is useful to point
> me to references and quotations, but when I read them, I do not see what
> he is saying about them.
>
> I am by the way, not at all surprised the discussion bogged down -
> almost all do.
>
> Regards,
> Bob Taylor
>
>



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JP Mayberry, Mathematics
J.P.Mayberry@...
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