The Social System of Mathematics and National Socialism: A Survey*

Mehrtens, Herbert

doi:10.1111/j.1475-682x.1987.tb01040.x

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…10 The school mathematics tradition appears to combine smoothly with different political outlooks, also of the most dubious nature. Herbert Mehrtens (1993) reveals the intimate relationships that emerged during the 1930s in Germany between, on the one hand, mathematics and mathematics education and, on the other hand, the Nazi ideologies. The adaptability of mathematics and mathematics education is a concern for critical mathematics education.…”

Section: Students' Future Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concerns of Critical Mathematics Education – and of Ethnomathematics

Skovsmose

2022

Rev. Colomb. Educ.

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Critical mathematics education can be characterized by its many concerns. I refer here to four of them connected to social justice and politics, power and mathematics, students’ future possibilities, and the socio-political structuring of education, all of which are interrelated and integrated. Those concerns are shared by much work done in ethnomathematics. However, to what extent an ethnomathematical study turns critical must be discussed in every case. I see the concerns of critical mathematics education as an important challenge to ethnomathematics.

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Section: Students' Future Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concerns of Critical Mathematics Education – and of Ethnomathematics

Skovsmose

2022

Rev. Colomb. Educ.

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“…(Cliff 1943, p. 307, our italics) There are claims that Hitler's vision of the ideological role of war machine technology was taken up by groups of scientists and engineers who fought against the downfall of the Third Reich with intense activity in the strengthening of Nazi's armament power (Albrecht 1994). Whilst some mathematicians sought to develop an 'Aryan Mathematics', others campaigned against and withdrew from German organisations led by the Nazi (Mehrtens 1994). These are only a few examples that belong to the fascinating, and yet dreadful and concerning, history of science and fascism, that has been intriguingly unappreciated and discouraged (Renneberg and Walker 1994).…”

Section: Contributions From History Philosophy and Sociology Of Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Science education against the rise of fascist and authoritarian movements: towards the development of a pedagogy for democracy

Galamba

Matthews

2021

Cult Stud of Sci Educ

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In the twenty-first century, the rise and support of fascism-related views threaten freedom of speech, freedom of sexual orientation, religious tolerance and progressive agendas that advocate equity. We argue that mainstream science education generally does not, but should, educate students against fascism-related views—such as racism, sexism, homophobia and religious intolerance—with a view to strengthening mutual respect and the common good. We argue some science teaching practices are found to be suitable to fascism-like ideologies (e.g. race in genetics teaching), and that the use of the concept of ‘scientific literacy’ has focused on neoliberal possessive individualism. As a consequence, mainstream science education overlooks the development of sympathy, altruism and interpersonal skills. We also discuss the activity of science education in authoritarian, undemocratic regimes in history, showing that fascist regimes have long used ‘apolitical’ scientists’ achievements to establish and expand regimes’ intolerant and violent ideologies. We use that historical relationship to argue fascism is science education’s business. Given the fear that current political discourses in many countries are again swinging towards fascism, we outline potential pathways for science education which focus on the social and emotional development of students. We argue that to develop a pedagogy for democracy, that attends to equity and social justice, it is imperative it enables pupils to develop at a psychological level with diverse others, including through their own agency. This pedagogy builds on critical pedagogies.

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“…The goal was to define a modern culture in such a way, and to make it a state affair in such a way, that the professionals in natural-and social sciences, economics and bureaucracy rise to the rank of a state elite. 40 [39, p. 361] (emphasis on 'modern' in the original; emphasis on 'imperialist competitive fight' added)…”

Section: Kleinian Continuities According To Mehrtens Klein's Rather C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is a reference to an association charged with carrying out the reforms in the teaching of mathematics and science in German-speaking high school teaching 40. In the original: "Im gleichen Jahr betonte Klein vor dem Förderverein die Bedeutung des mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Studiums im Konkurrenzkampf der Nationen und die allgemeine Kulturbedeutung der höheren Schule und eines leistungsfähigen, vom öffentlichen Vertrauen getragenen Standes der Studienräte.…”

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Klein vs Mehrtens: restoring the reputation of a great modern

Bair,

Błaszczyk,

Heinig

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Historian Herbert Mehrtens sought to portray the history of turn-of-the-century mathematics as a struggle of modern vs countermodern, led respectively by David Hilbert and Felix Klein. Some of Mehrtens' conclusions have been picked up by both historians (Jeremy Gray) and mathematicians (Frank Quinn).We argue that Klein and Hilbert, both at Göttingen, were not adversaries but rather modernist allies in a bid to broaden the scope of mathematics beyond a narrow focus on arithmetized analysis as practiced by the Berlin school.Klein's Göttingen lecture and other texts shed light on Klein's modernism. Hilbert's views on intuition are closer to Klein's views than Mehrtens is willing to allow. Klein and Hilbert were equally interested in the axiomatisation of physics. Among Klein's credits is helping launch the career of Abraham Fraenkel, and advancing the careers of Sophus Lie, Emmy Noether, and Ernst Zermelo, all four surely of impeccable modernist credentials.Mehrtens' unsourced claim that Hilbert was interested in production rather than meaning appears to stem from Mehrtens' marxist leanings. Mehrtens' claim that [the future SS-Brigadeführer ] "Theodor Vahlen . . . cited Klein's racist distinctions within mathematics, and sharpened them into open antisemitism" fabricates a spurious continuity between the two figures mentioned and is thus an odious misrepresentation of Klein's position. Contents 1. Felix Klein 3 1.1. The Göttingen address 3 1.2. Spatial intuition 5 1.3. Idealisation in physics 6 1.4. Attitude toward logic and foundations 8 1.5. Klein on Green's function 9

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The Social System of Mathematics and National Socialism: A Survey*

Cited by 12 publications

References 5 publications

Concerns of Critical Mathematics Education – and of Ethnomathematics

Concerns of Critical Mathematics Education – and of Ethnomathematics

Science education against the rise of fascist and authoritarian movements: towards the development of a pedagogy for democracy

Klein vs Mehrtens: restoring the reputation of a great modern

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