The feeling of security in mathematics

Research in mathematics education abounds in studies of negative feelings associated with learning mathematics. But what about positive feelings? There are people who like or even love mathematics. Based on personal experience, the author of this book set out to investigate the positive influence that mathematics may have on an affective level. Mathematics is more than a school subject. It is a field of knowledge which has attracted philosophical attention over the centuries. A field which offers a world-view of order, harmony, and ultimately security. Combining philosophical perspectives with psychological structures, this book provides a framework which relates properties of mathematics with human needs. Consequently, this framework is tested in the relationship of working mathematicians with their subject. Their views about mathematics complete the framework with the variety of interconnections and contradictions, typical of human psychology. The analysis offers an account of elements on which a positive relationship with mathematics can be built and it should be useful to teachers who wish to cultivate the love of their students for mathematics.