Imre lakatos

Imre Lakatos (1922 - 1974)

By erikatherese.kloos

  • Birth

    Birth
    Imre Lakatos was born in Debrecen, Hungary.

  • University of Debrecen

    University of Debrecen
    Lakatos attended University of Debrecen in 1940 and graduated in 1944. He studied Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy. (Musgrave and Pigden, 2016)

  • Senior Official

    Senior Official
    Lakatos' active involvement in communist activities made him become a Senior Official for the Hungarian Ministry of Education. His political view, however, caused him to disobey Russian authorities. In 1950, he was arrested and served 3 years in prison. (O’connor and Robertson, 2003)

  • Released from Prison

    Released from Prison
    Lakatos was released from prison in 1953. Alfréd Rényi, a Hungarian mathematician, helped Lakatos find a way to make a living by translating books. Lakatos translated mathematic books in Hungarian. One of the books that he worked on was George Pólya's "How to Solve it". (O’connor and Robertson, 2003)

  • University of Cambridge

    University of Cambridge
    Lakatos found his way to England and obtained his doctorate in philosophy. His doctoral thesis was titled, "Essays in the Logic of Mathematical Discovery." He spent most of his time writing papers on philosophy and science of Mathematics. Around this time, he was also Karl Popper's Assistant Lecturer at The London School of Economics.(O’connor and Robertson, 2003)

  • Professor of Logic

    Professor of Logic
    Lakatos became a Professor of Logic in The London School of Economics, and his work created him a worldwide reputation as a philosopher of science. (Musgrave and Pigden, 2016)

  • The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes

    The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
    Volume I consists of papers on philosophy of science and Volume II consists of papers on philosophy of mathematics. Lakatos came up with "research program" to improve Popper's falsificationism and Kuhn's paradigm. Lakatos popular theories "hard core and protective belt" is also explained in this book.
    Lakatos, I. (1978). The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: Philosophical Papers (J. Worrall & G. Currie, Eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511621123

  • Science Vs. Pseudoscience (BBC Radio Talk)

    Science Vs. Pseudoscience (BBC Radio Talk)
    http://richmedia.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/2002_LakatosScienceAndPseudoscience128.mp3
    The link contains a recording of Lakatos' radio talk where he provides his insight on science and pseudoscience.
    Source: The London School of Economics and Political Science
    http://www.lse.ac.uk/philosophy/lakatos/

  • Death

    Death
    Imre Lakatos died in London. The cause of his death was a heart attack.

  • Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery

    Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery
    This book talks about methodologies, philosophy and history of mathematics in an imaginary dialogue form between a teacher and students. He used Descartes-Euler conjecture on polyhedral to elaborate on his points. Topics also include: logicism, formalism and intuitionism of the foundation in mathematics. Lakatos started this book in 1963. (Musgrave and Pigden 2016)
    Lakatos, Imre (ed.) (1976). Proofs and Refutations: The Logic of Mathematical Discovery. Cambridge University Press.

  • Citations

    Musgrave, Alan and Pigden, Charles, "Imre Lakatos", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2016 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/lakatos/. O'connor, J., & Robertson, E. (2003). Imre Lakatos. Retrieved July 1, 2019, from http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lakatos.html