On page 10 he comments on this story by MacLane, and on page 18-19 there is a rather remarkable political stuff, ending with him landing at Buffalo, which became his permanent place of work: "John Isbell and Jack Duskin were able to persuade the dean that (contrary to the message sent out by one of the Dalhousie deans) I was not a danger and might even be an asset".
Wow, thanks a lot for the link, and for this text. I was vaguely wondering, how come there are so many sets in MacLane's book - now I know. It was just too old-fashioned. Thank you!
Still, 50 years later, the world is stuck in that set theory mentality. Sad.
You are welcome - it's an interesting piece of mathematical history.
The set theory mentality comes from high school education. MacLane writes that it was introduced in the 1950s, partially inspired and aided by Burbaki materials, to promote mathematical rigor.
Bourbaki, right. I remember trying to read their "Set Theory" book. A page dedicated to proving that x = x, etc. Probably written for the people who already know stuff, not for students. Well, there's another such book, Bahrendregt. When I read it, I know that 99.99% of readers are totally clueless, because hardly anybody is familiar with e.g. Grothendieck toposes, half-implicitly used there.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-12-30 02:36 am (UTC)Про молодого Ловера, вообще, много классных историй...
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Date: 2019-12-30 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 07:21 pm (UTC)http://www.mat.uc.pt/~picado/lawvere/interview.pdf
On page 10 he comments on this story by MacLane, and on page 18-19 there is a rather remarkable political stuff, ending with him landing at Buffalo, which became his permanent place of work: "John Isbell and Jack Duskin were able to persuade the dean that (contrary to the message sent out by one of the Dalhousie deans) I was not a danger and might even be an asset".
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Date: 2019-12-30 07:32 am (UTC)Still, 50 years later, the world is stuck in that set theory mentality. Sad.
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Date: 2019-12-30 07:04 pm (UTC)The set theory mentality comes from high school education. MacLane writes that it was introduced in the 1950s, partially inspired and aided by Burbaki materials, to promote mathematical rigor.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 07:31 pm (UTC)