History and Philosophy of Science

"Platonism in Science and Mathematics"
pdf file of DMV Gauss lecture in Jena 2010.

"Archimedes' calculations of square roots"
preprint Jan 2011.

" The Mechanical Philosophy 1660 - 1675 "
Preprint August 2007. Word document.

" What is Mathematics About? "
pdf file of a popular lecture given in April 2007.

" Some Reflections on Newton's 'Principia' "
British. J. Hist. Sci. 42 (2009) 211-224.

" Whither Mathematics? "
Notices Amer. Math. Soc. 52 (no. 11) (2005) 1350-1356. Two letters about this appeared in the April 2006 issue of NAMS, together with my responses.

" Pluralism in mathematics "
Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. A 363 (2005) 2449-2460.

"A defence of mathematical pluralism"
This was revised, and appeared in Phil. Math. 13(3) (2005) 252-276.

"Some remarks on the foundations of quantum mechanics."
Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 56 (2005) 521-539

Science in the Looking Glass with corrections and commentary.
This is a popular science book presenting the author's views of some aspects of the history and philosophy of science and mathematics. It is written at a level which should be accessible to a wide audience. Published by Oxford University Press in August 2003, and in paperback in May 2007.

"Building infinite machines"
British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (2001) 671-582.
Preliminary version here in pdf format and dvi format

"Empiricism in Arithmetic and Analysis"
Philosophia Mathematica (3) 11 (2003) 53-66.
Available here in pdf and dvi formats.

"The Newtonian Myth"
Preprint August 2001 available here in pdf and doc formats.
Studies Hist. Phil. Sci, part A, 34 (2003) 763-780.

"Realism in Physics"
Preprint January 2002. Available in ps and dvi formats.
Appeared as "Quantum mechanics does not require the continuity of space"
Stud. Hist. Phil. Modern Phys. 34 (2003) 319-328.

"The Role of Astronomy in the History of Science"
Preprint January 2002. Available in rtf and Word formats. Preprint June 2002.
This article is deliberately controversial, and will not be published in its present form.