Journal of Humanistic Mathematics Volume 10 | Issue 1 January 2020 Mathematical Conquerors, Unguru Polarity, and the Task of History Mikhail Katz Bar-Ilan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm Part of the Mathematics Commons Recommended Citation Katz, M. "Mathematical Conquerors, Unguru Polarity, and the Task of History," Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Volume 10 Issue 1 (January 2020), pages 475-515. DOI: 10.5642/jhummath.202001.27 . Available at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/vol10/iss1/27 ©2020 by the authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. JHM is an open access bi-annual journal sponsored by the Claremont Center for the Mathematical Sciences and published by the Claremont Colleges Library | ISSN 2159-8118 | http://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/ The editorial staff of JHM works hard to make sure the scholarship disseminated in JHM is accurate and upholds professional ethical guidelines. However the views and opinions expressed in each published manuscript belong exclusively to the individual contributor(s). The publisher and the editors do not endorse or accept responsibility for them. See https://scholarship.claremont.edu/jhm/policies.html for more information. Mathematical Conquerors, Unguru Polarity, and the Task of History Mikhail G. Katz Department of Mathematics, Bar Ilan University
[email protected] Synopsis I compare several approaches to the history of mathematics recently proposed by Blåsjö, Fraser–Schroter, Fried, and others. I argue that tools from both mathe- matics and history are essential for a meaningful history of the discipline. In an extension of the Unguru–Weil controversy over the concept of geometric algebra, Michael Fried presents a case against both André Weil the “privileged ob- server” and Pierre de Fermat the “mathematical conqueror.” Here I analyze Fried’s version of Unguru’s alleged polarity between a historian’s and a mathematician’s history.