Review of S. Duffy, Virtual Mathematics: the Logic of Difference (Clinamen, 2006)

This book is important for philosophy of mathematics and for the study of French philosophy. French philosophers are more concerned than most Anglo-American with mathematical practice outside of foundations. This contradicts the fashionable claim that French intellectuals get science all wrong and we return below to a germane example from Sokal and Bricmont [1999]. The emphasis on practice goes back to mid-20th century French historians of science including those Kuhn cites as sources for his orientation in philosophy of science [Kuhn 1996: p. viii]. And the French often look to the experience, rather than the ideology, of Bourbaki.