Abstract
The first appearance of a reference to a Bourbaki mathematical result was the spoof by D D Kosambi, published in the first volume of the "Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh", 80 years ago, although it was not the first reference to Bourbaki in a mathematical context. In mathematical economics there seems to be an increasing identification of Debreu's mathematisation of economics with Bourbakism, although the post-second world war mathematics of general equilibrium theory can be shown to be consistent also with the contributions of the Polish School of Mathematics in the interwar period. In this paper an attempt is made to summarise the story of the emergence of Bourbakism, originating in India, and its recent demise as well as how it played a destructive role in mathematising economics in one, uncompromisingly non-constructive, mode.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 63-68 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Economic and Political Weekly |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Jan 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |