 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: L'intuition rationnelle dans la thèse de Louis Couturat (1896) Subtitle: Entre méthode critique et métaphysique Author(s): BRAVERMAN, Charles , ECKES, Christophe Journal: Logique et Analyse Volume: 266 Date: 2024-2025 Pages: 175-195 DOI: 10.2143/LEA.266.0.3294836 Abstract : This article aims to reconsider the notion of rational intuition, which forms the cornerstone of Louis Couturat’s (1868-1914) early philosophy of mathematics, as evidenced by his doctoral thesis defended in 1896. Our first objective is to understand how he came up with this notion of rational intuition, by contextualizing and analyzing his Kant-inspired critical method. We will then show how he implemented this method, focusing on the reflections he dedicated to complex numbers, an example that makes particularly concrete his claim that successive generalizations of the concept of number (up to complex numbers) are grounded in the idea of magnitude as rational intuition. Finally, even if this claim is questionable from a mathematical point of view, we will emphasize its metaphysical significance: Couturat relied on the idea of magnitude (as rational intuition) to contradict Charles Renouvier’s finitism and, ultimately, to resolve Kantian antinomies in an original way. |
|
