Philosophy in Mathematics   
                                                                                                                                                                 
by Tatiana Velitchkov © 2009

Philosophy in Mathematics is an area of study which involves a lot of investigations. In its concept, philosophy of Mathematics is associated with the teaching practice of Mathematics. Many people remain into the question as to why we have to teach and learn Mathematics. Though the learning process cannot be separated from the teaching process in that, a lecturer has to undergo the learning process to be able to deliver in form of teaching the Mathematics to other learners.

There are different needs as to why one would be interested in learning as well as teaching Mathematics. These aims and goals in the society come with different persons. Here the aims, goals, purpose and the rest should be considered to serve the society and their social groups as well. This should also be extended to the educational needs as well as to the society at large.

Much as the society and the social groups aim at teaching and learning Mathematics, each of them has a role to play. In this activity each party should be able to understand the kind of relationship that should be adopted to see them into success. This will demand from them, the underlying aims as well as the rationale, the role played by the Mathematics in the society, the learner and the teacher.

The philosophy of Mathematics has three possible applications which are the overall philosophy, philosophy of education and philosophy of mathematics. This does not mean that they are substantive components of application and knowledge that integrate these tasks. However, Mathematics education and philosophy are levels of knowledge that bring together the processes of practice, knowledge of an individual and the enquiry process and even the knowledge that has been put into publication.

Philosophy brings about a systematic approach in analysis and proving ones fundamental challenges. It puts the mind into exercise and a thought of intelligence hence leading to reasoning, thinking, enquiry and this takes you to the level of the output which is justification, conclusion and beliefs. These concepts, outputs and theories can be transferred to mathematics and education.

The issue of philosophy of Mathematics is left with problems to address which will provide the answers to questions ranging from; the definition of mathematics, the relationship between the society and mathematics, understanding what it is in learning mathematics, understanding what it is in teaching mathematics, understanding the position of mathematics in the field of study and approaches in mathematics education.

See the following video about Philosophy of Mathematics