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> What if a student wants to learn mathematics, but feels alienated because so many of the results are named after stale old white men, some of whom oppressed t
by throw0101c 4y ago
> What if a student wants to learn mathematics, but feels alienated because so many of the results are named after stale old white men, some of whom oppressed their own ancestors, and no one seems to acknowledge this?
Who did Euclid or Pythagoras oppress? Leibniz or Newton? Pascal or Laplace? Euler or Gauss?
- n4r9 4y agoWell, Isaac Netwon supported the slave trade by holding the equivalent of millions of pounds in shares in the South Sea Company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company Liebniz wasn't much better: "Leibniz’s early views were no more savoury; ‘barbarians,’ whom he considered ‘beasts’ (see Perkins, 111), could be destroyed in order to civilize them." https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-leibniz/ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-leibniz/ Obviously not all mathematicians espoused problematic views, but it's worth demonstrating sensitivity to this aspect if it broadens the appeal of the subject.