Mathematics and German politics: The national socialist experience

AbstractDuring the Nazi period in Germany, an attempt was made to discern a kind of mathematics that was German as distinct from other ethnic or “racial” types of mathematics: a “Deutsche Mathematik.” While not denying the universal validity of all mathematical truths, such a “German” mathematics stressed ideology in terms of research and pedagogical styles. Because mathematics was nearly independent of anything material, it was—for the “Deutsche Mathematiker”—especially amenable to the Nazi argument that different racial psychological types exhibit different racial characters and modes of thought. This paper is a brief examination of the nature and intellectual content of “Deutsche Mathematik.

Mini-Workshop: History of Mathematics in Germany, 1920 - 1960

The Mini-Workshop dealt with the history of mathematics in Germany between 1920 and 1960, with a particular focus on the social history of mathematics. For the period under discussion research in the history of mathematics is faced with some fundamental problems, which cannot be addressed by individuals. Consequently the Mini-Workshop’s aim was to develop future perspectives and methods for research and ways to organise new research projects. Among the topics addressed during the Mini-Workshop were the international relations of mathematicians in Germany before, during and after World War II; the prosopography of mathematicians in Germany from before 1933 into the 1950s; the role of mathematics as a key technology in World War II; and the professional policies from the 1920s to the 1950s

Nazi race theory and belief in an “Aryan race”: a profound failure of interdisciplinary communication

In the popular and scientific imagination, Nazi science, in particular theories of race, loom large as a point of reference for discussion of moral issues within science. This paper argues that popular and academic discussion of Nazi race theory has been in general highly misleading, and vitiated by a failure to differentiate between: (1) popular, propagandistic and aesthetic stereotypes of race; (2) racial policies; (3) academic race theory as expounded within scholarly publications in the Third Reich. Since these have not been clearly distinguished, discussion of the relationships between them has of necessity been confused. The case of the “Aryan race” is clear evidence of this confusion, since academic race theorists consistently rejected the notion as unscientific, as did policy makers after 1935. This widespread preconception that Nazism promoted the idea of an Aryan race is based on the popular use of the “Arisch” in the public culture of Nazi Germany. Textbooks on race published in Nazi Germany however routinely rejected the use of “Aryan” as a racial term, pointing out that it derived from the discipline of linguistics. There has been an almost complete lack of communication between scientists, historians and linguists over these key questions, and this has produced a profoundly entrenched set of misunderstandings over such as issues as the relationship between Darwinism and Nazism, ideas about racial purity, hybridity, racial determinism and the ideological contribution of linguistics to Nazism. These misunderstandings echo through wider debates about the politics of science, to the detriment of public debate about the nature of human identity and human diversity.published_or_final_versio

A “truly international” discipline:Adverbs, ideals, and the reinvention of international mathematics, 1920-1950

Examining how, and to what effect, the phrase “truly international” became central to the rhetoric and organization of the American-hosted 1950 International Congress of Mathematicians, I trace the negotiation of a “truly international” discipline from mathematicians’ first international congresses around the turn of the century across two world wars and their divisive interlude. Two failed attempts to host International Congresses of Mathematicians in the United States, for 1924 and 1940, defined the stakes for those who became the principal organizers for 1950. Combining American organizational records with contexts and sources that extend across and beyond traditional mathematical centers in Europe and North America, I show how a small cohort of American mathematicians marshalled an emphatic but ambiguous “international” rhetoric to guide policies and command cooperation and support while responding to persistent challenges. Their adaptations and compromises left a lasting mark on the terms and achievements of international inclusion, cooperation, and hegemony in mathematics

Matematikk i krisetid : matematikk og matematikere etter første verdenskrig, i mellomkrigstiden og under andre verdenskrig i Nederland

We have provided new and partly unknown historical material on an important period of social, political and scientific development and change both in the Netherlands and internationally. We focused on the so far neglected history of mathematics in the Netherlands between the Two World Wars, including the period of political “cleansing” after the War. We have collected and commented biographical material on all leading Dutch mathematicians of the period as far we could reach it. We investigated in particular the political behavior of teaching personnel and of students and found differences both individually and between various institutions. We have come to the conclusion that the situation was very nuanced and complicated and that even signing of declarations of loyalty for the German occupies did not rule out resistance on the part of those who signed. For the same reason some of the policies of the commission for political cleansing after the war were ill-informed and one sided. We found that the period under investigation brought a substantial push of modernization to Dutch mathematics, both in terms of political awareness and of tendencies towards social needs, among them mathematical applications. We hope that the material presented gives stimulus for further historical discussion and will be enriched by further studies

Just Like Little Dogs : The Law Should Speak with Veracity and Respect

This article proposes veracity and respect as basic guides for law. It thus supplements dominant lines of thought which emphasize instrumentalist criteria such as promoting efficiency, maximizing utility, and deterring and remedying harm. This article proposes that it is a great good for a judge, a legislator, and all who speak as the law to exercise the virtue of veracity and to speak with respect, and that it is especially bad in the case of such legal officers to depart from those practices. It points out some implications for family law