The Mathematician's Mind : : The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field / / Jacques Hadamard.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• VerfasserIn: Hadamard, Jacques,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©1997
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Science Library ; 109
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (168 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION --; FOREWORD --; INTRODUCTION --; I. GENERAL VIEWS AND INQUIRIES --; II. DISCUSSIONS ON UNCONSCIOUSNESS --; III. THE UNCONSCIOUS AND DISCOVERY --; IV. THE PREPARATION STAGE. LOGIC AND CHANCE --; V. THE LATER CONSCIOUS WORK --; VI. DISCOVERY AS A SYNTHESIS. THE HELP OF SIGNS --; VII. DIFFERENT KINDS OF MATHEMATICAL MINDS --; VIII. PARADOXICAL CASES OF INTUITION --; IX. THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF RESEARCH --; FINAL REMARKS --; APPENDIX I --; APPENDIX II
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9780691212906; 9783110442496
• DOI: 10.1515/9780691212906?locatt=mode:legacy
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Jacques Hadamard.

Fifty years ago when Jacques Hadamard set out to explore how mathematicians invent new ideas, he considered the creative experiences of some of the greatest thinkers of his generation, such as George Polya, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Albert Einstein. It appeared that inspiration could strike anytime, particularly after an individual had worked hard on a problem for days and then turned attention to another activity. In exploring this phenomenon, Hadamard produced one of the most famous and cogent cases for the existence of unconscious mental processes in mathematical invention and other forms of creativity. Written before the explosion of research in computers and cognitive science, his book, originally titled The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field, remains an important tool for exploring the increasingly complex problem of mental life. The roots of creativity for Hadamard lie not in consciousness, but in the long unconscious work of incubation, and in the unconscious aesthetic selection of ideas that thereby pass into consciousness. His discussion of this process comprises a wide range of topics, including the use of mental images or symbols, visualized or auditory words, "meaningless" words, logic, and intuition. Among the important documents collected is a letter from Albert Einstein analyzing his own mechanism of thought.