# David Corfield > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/David_Corfield > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/David_Corfield.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Corfield > Source revision: 1351219547 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British philosopher}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox philosopher | region = [Western philosophy](/source/Western_philosophy) | era = [Contemporary philosophy](/source/Contemporary_philosophy) | name = David Corfield | birth_name = David Neil Corfield | image = | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = | education = [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) ([BA](/source/B.A.))
[King's College London](/source/King's_College_London) ([MSc](/source/MSc); [PhD](/source/PhD), 1996) | institutions = [University of Kent](/source/University_of_Kent) | school_tradition = [Analytic](/source/Analytic_philosophy) | main_interests = [Philosophy of mathematics](/source/Philosophy_of_mathematics)
[Philosophy of psychology](/source/Philosophy_of_psychology) | notable_ideas = Philosophy of [real mathematics](/source/Mathematical_practice){{cite encyclopedia |title=The Philosophy of Mathematical Practice |first1=Silvia |last1=De Toffoli |first2=Paolo |last2=Mancosu |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |editor-first1=Edward N. |editor-last1=Zalta |editor-first2=Uri |editor-last2=Nodelman |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mathematical-practice/ |date=2026-04-07 |access-date=2026-04-11}} (as opposed to [metamathematics](/source/metamathematics))
Adoption of [mathematical-categorification](/source/Categorification) procedures for philosophy
[Homotopy type theory](/source/Homotopy_type_theory) as an inherently [structuralist](/source/Structuralism_(mathematics)) [foundational language for mathematics](/source/Foundations_of_mathematics)
[Modal](/source/Modal_logic) homotopy type theory | doctoral_advisor = [Donald A. Gillies](/source/Donald_A._Gillies) | thesis_title = Research Programmes, Logic, and Analogy: Three Aspects of Mathematics and Its Development | thesis_url = https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?author=David%20Corfield&document-type=thesis&rn=1 | thesis_year = 1996 }} '''David Neil Corfield''' is a British [philosopher](/source/Philosophy) specializing in [philosophy of mathematics](/source/philosophy_of_mathematics) and [philosophy of psychology](/source/philosophy_of_psychology). He was [Senior Lecturer](/source/Senior_Lecturer) in Philosophy at the [University of Kent](/source/University_of_Kent) until 2024. ==Education== Corfield studied mathematics at the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge), and later earned his MSc and PhD in the philosophy of science and mathematics at [King's College London](/source/King's_College_London).[Apostolos Doxiadis](/source/Apostolos_Doxiadis), [Barry Mazur](/source/Barry_Mazur), ''Circles Disturbed: The Interplay of Mathematics and Narrative'', Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 541.[https://thalesandfriends.org/delphi-conference/bios/ Bios - Thales + Friends] His doctoral advisor was [Donald A. Gillies](/source/Donald_A._Gillies).[https://thalesandfriends.org/2007/07/22/mclarty-corfield/ Corfield interviewed by McLarty - Thales + Friends] ==Work== Corfield is the author of ''Towards a Philosophy of Real Mathematics'' (2003), in which he argues that the philosophical implications of mathematics did not stop with [Kurt Gödel](/source/Kurt_G%C3%B6del)'s [incompleteness theorems](/source/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems). He has also co-authored a book with [Darian Leader](/source/Darian_Leader) about [psychology](/source/psychology) and [psychosomatic medicine](/source/psychosomatic_medicine), ''Why Do People Get Ill?'' (2007). He joined the [University of Kent](/source/University_of_Kent) in September 2007 where he was [Senior Lecturer](/source/Senior_Lecturer) in Philosophy until 2024. He is a member of the informal steering committee of [''n''Lab](/source/nLab), a wiki-lab for collaborative work on mathematics, physics, and philosophy. ==Bibliography== * "Assaying [Lakatos](/source/Imre_Lakatos)'s Philosophy of Mathematics", ''Studies in History and Philosophy of Science'' 28(1), 99–121 (1997). * "Beyond the Methodology of Mathematical Research Programmes", ''Philosophia Mathematica'' 6, 272–301 (1998). * "Come the Revolution...", critical notice on ''The Principles of Mathematics Revisited'' by Jaakko Hintikka, ''Philosophical Books'' 39(3), 150–6 (1998). * "The Importance of Mathematical Conceptualisation", ''Studies in History and Philosophy of Science'' 32(3), 507–533 (2001). * "[Bayesianism](/source/Bayesian_probability) in Mathematics", in Corfield D. and Williamson J. (eds.) (2001), 175–201. * (with J. Williamson), "Bayesianism into the 21st Century", in Corfield D. and Williamson J. (eds.) (2001), 1–16. * Corfield D. and Williamson J. (eds.), ''Foundations of Bayesianism'', Kluwer Applied Logic Series (2001). * "Argumentation and the Mathematical Process", G. Kampis, L. Kvasz & M. Stöltzner (eds.) ''Appraising Lakatos: Mathematics, Methodology, and the Man'', 115–138. Kluwer, Dordrecht (2002). * Review of ''Conceptual Mathematics'' by [F. W. Lawvere](/source/William_Lawvere) and [S. Schanuel](/source/Stephen_Schanuel) and ''A Primer of Infinitesimal Analysis'' by J. Bell, ''Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics'', 33B(2), 359–366 (2002). * "From Mathematics to Psychology: [Lacan](/source/Jacques_Lacan)'s Missed Encounters" in J. Glynos and Y. Stavrakakis (eds.), ''Lacan and Science'', Karnac Books, 179–206 (2002). * ''Towards a Philosophy of Real Mathematics'', Cambridge University Press (2003). * Review of ''Opening Skinner's Box'' by [Lauren Slater](/source/Lauren_Slater), ''The Guardian'', 27 March 2004. * Review of {{cite journal | last1 = Krieger | first1 = M. | year = 2005 | title = Doing Mathematics. | journal = Philosophia Mathematica | volume = 13 | pages = 106–111 }} * "Categorification as a Heuristic Device", in D. Gillies and C. Cellucci (eds.), ''Mathematical Reasoning and Heuristics'', King's College Publications (2005). * "Some Implications of the Adoption of Category Theory for Philosophy", in Giandomenico Sica (ed.), ''What is Category Theory?'', Polimetrica (2006), 75–94. * (with [Darian Leader](/source/Darian_Leader)) ''Why Do People Get Ill?'', Hamish Hamilton (2007). * {{cite journal | year = 2011 | title = Understanding the Infinite II: Coalgebra | doi = 10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.09.013 | journal = Studies in History and Philosophy of Science | volume = 42 | pages = 571–579 | last1 = Corfield | first1 = David | issue = 4 | bibcode = 2011SHPSA..42..571C }} * ''Modal Homotopy Type Theory: The Prospect of a New Logic for Philosophy'', Oxford University Press (2020). ==References== {{reflist|25em}} ==External links== * [https://www.kent.ac.uk/secl/philosophy/staff/corfield.html Faculty page] at the University of Kent * [https://ncatlab.org/davidcorfield/show/HomePage Home page] in ''n''Lab * [http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/ Philosophy/mathematics group blog "The ''n''-Category Cafe"], written by Corfield, [John Baez](/source/John_Baez), Urs Schreiber and Alex Hoffnung * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080615031404/http://www.dcorfield.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blog.html Internet Archive of Corfield's old blog, "Philosophy of Real Mathematics" (last version)] * [https://whydopeoplegetill.blogspot.com/index.html His psychosomatic medicine blog, "Why Do People Get Ill?"] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091128033249/http://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/~dcorfield Homepage] at the [Max Planck Institut](/source/Max_Planck_Institut) * [https://thalesandfriends.org/2007/07/23/mazur-interviewed-by-corfield/ Mazur interviewed by Corfield - Thales + Friends] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Corfield, David}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:21st-century British philosophers Category:Philosophers of mathematics Category:Academics of the University of Kent Category:Science bloggers Category:21st-century science writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David Corfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Corfield) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Corfield?action=history)). 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