Jean Cavailles 1903 – 1944
Jean Cavailles was a French philosopher of mathematics and a hero of the French Resistance. Trained at the Ecole Normale Superieure under Brunschvicg and influenced by his exchanges with the German axiomatic tradition of Hilbert and Bernays, he developed a philosophy of mathematics centered on the autonomous development of concepts within the history of the discipline. Mobilized in 1939 and quickly drawn into clandestine resistance, he organized intelligence networks for the Free French until his arrest, torture, and execution by the German occupiers in February 1944. His final book, On Logic and the Theory of Science, shaped postwar French philosophy of science.
Key facts
- Nationality
- French
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Continental
Selected quotes
-
Attributed to Jean Cavailles:
“What is needed is not a philosophy of consciousness but a philosophy of the concept.”
-
Attributed to Jean Cavailles:
“Mathematics moves by its own internal necessity.”
-
Attributed to Jean Cavailles:
“Each theory carries within it the seeds of its own development.”
-
Attributed to Jean Cavailles:
“The history of science is part of philosophy itself.”
-
Attributed to Jean Cavailles:
“Resistance is the duty of every free conscience.”