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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

209728

Authoritarian versus authoritative teaching

Polya and Lakatos

Brendan Larvor

pp. 71-83

Abstract

Lakatos argued that a proof, when presented in the usual "Euclidian" style, may leave the choice of theorem, definitions and proof-idea mysterious. To remove these mysteries, he recommended a "heuristic" style of presentation. This distinction was already present in the work of Polya. Moreover, Polya was directly concerned with teaching and consequently paid attention to the emotional and existential experience of the student. However, Polya lacked Lakatos's account of proof analysis and was not a fallibilist. Therefore, the question of whether Lakatos advanced pedagogy from where Polya left it reduces to two questions: (1) does proof analysis have a place in the classroom? and (2) does fallibilism have a place in the classroom? In this paper, I argue that the answers are (1) Yes and (2) No.

Publication details

Published in:

Hanna Gila, Jahnke Hans Niels, Pulte Helmut (2010) Explanation and proof in mathematics: philosophical and educational perspectives. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 71-83

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-0576-5_6

Full citation:

Larvor Brendan (2010) „Authoritarian versus authoritative teaching: Polya and Lakatos“, In: G. Hanna, H. Jahnke & H. Pulte (eds.), Explanation and proof in mathematics, Dordrecht, Springer, 71–83.