Mathematical Artifacts Have Politics: The Journey from Examples to Embedded Ethics

Authors: Dennis Müller, Maurice Chiodo

23 pages; keywords: artifacts have politics, embedded ethics, mathematics in society, ethics in mathematics, mathematics education
License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Abstract: We extend Langdon Winner's idea that artifacts have politics into the realm of mathematics. To do so, we first provide a list of examples showing the existence of mathematical artifacts that have politics. In the second step, we provide an argument that shows that all mathematical artifacts have politics. We conclude by showing the implications for embedding ethics into mathematical curricula. We show how acknowledging that mathematical artifacts have politics can help mathematicians design better exercises for their mathematics students.

Submitted to arXiv on 09 Aug. 2023

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