2023/08/09 by Dennis Müller, Maurice Chiodo, Müller, Dennis +1 · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #01A80. 00A30 #97A40 #97D20 #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Mathematics #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Overview (math.HO) #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.04871
openalex publication_date 2023/08/09 · openalex created_date 2023/08/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We extend Langdon Winner's idea that artifacts have politics into the realm of mathematics. To do so, we first provide a list of examples showing the existence of mathematical artifacts that have politics. In the second step, we provide an argument that shows that all mathematical artifacts have politics. We conclude by showing the implications for embedding ethics into mathematical curricula. We show how acknowledging that mathematical artifacts have politics can help mathematicians design better exercises for their mathematics students.