Burt C. Hopkins. The Origin of the Logic of Symbolic Mathematics: Edmund Husserl and Jacob Klein. Studies in Continental Thought. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-253-35671-0 (hbk). Pp. xxxi + 559

Abstract

Burt Hopkins's book, The Origin of the Logic of Symbolic Mathematics: Edmund Husserl and Jacob Klein, at first sight might seem a heavy tome of obscure lore, full of arcane jargon. Yet it contains a very precise thesis and claim, which can only be tackled by applying the technical terms and methods from the tradition in which it originated. In my review, I will strive to make it accessible to philosophers of mathematics outside the phenomenological movement. First of all, the book has a very fine-grained structure, being divided not only into four major thematic parts, but also into more than two hundred individually named paragraphs. This allows specialists and more generally oriented readers direct access to the parts they might find suitable to their interest and provides a survey of the topics and arguments presented in the book. It is also very much appreciated that in a dense book in excess of 500 pages, the author provides plenty of signposting to remind the reader about where one stands in the discussion, through summaries of the main points of previously covered material and the formulation of goals for the parts ahead. The name and subject indices are also helpful, although the name index contains some curious gaps.1