mathematics | ˌmaθ(ə)ˈmatɪks |
plural noun [usually treated as singular]
the abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts (pure mathematics), or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering (applied mathematics): a taste for mathematics.
  • [often treated as plural] the mathematical aspects of something: James immerses himself in the mathematics of baseball.
    • origin
    mid 16th century: plural of obsolete mathematic ‘mathematics’, from Old French mathematique, from Latin (ars) mathematica ‘mathematical (art)’, from Greek mathēmatikē (epistēmē), from the base of manthanein ‘learn’.
    artifice | ˈɑːtɪfɪs |
    noun [mass noun]
    clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others: an industry dominated by artifice | [count noun] : the style is not free from the artifices of the period.
    origin
    early 16th century (in the sense ‘workmanship’): from Anglo-Norman French, from Latin artificium, based on ars, art- ‘art’ + facere ‘make’. Late Middle English has the form artificie, directly from Latin.

    We are a reading group based at Utrecht University interested in understanding mathematics as an artifice. We study how different strands of mathematics constructs and operates abstractions and examine how these abstractions yield concrete concepts and artefacts that mediate our cultures. Our aim is to question the contemporary through the vector of mathematics and its artifices. You can follow our research activites: Mathematics & Artifice

    Upcoming session(s)

    Opening Session 2026/2027 - 2026-10-07 15:00-16:30 When: 2026-10-07 15:00-16:30
    Where:

    During this session we will select the reading list and schedule for the academic year 2026/2027. A preliminary list is on the website and we will add to it.

    Previous sessions

    Reading List

    Ernst, Wolfgang. 2021. “Towards a More Radical Understanding of Media as Technology and Logotechnics”

    Ernst, Wolfgang. 2021. “Towards a More Radical Understanding of Media as Technology and Logotechnics”. In Technológos in Being: Radical Media Archaeology and the Computational Machine, 15–29. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781501362262.

    Fazi, M. Beatrice. 2019. “Digital Aesthetics: The Discrete and the Continuous”

    Fazi, M. Beatrice. 2019. “Digital Aesthetics: The Discrete and the Continuous”. Theory, Culture & Society 36 (1): 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276418770243.

    Galloway, Alexander R.. 2021. “The Gender of Math”

    Galloway, Alexander R.. 2021. “The Gender of Math”. Differences 32 (3): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-9479681.

    Galloway, Alexander R.. 2025. “A Brief History of Digital Philosophy in 10 Expressions”

    Galloway, Alexander R.. 2025. “A Brief History of Digital Philosophy in 10 Expressions”. In Digital Theory, 44–68. In Search of Media Series. Lüneburg: meson press. https://doi.org/10.14619/0849.

    Guattari, Félix. 1995. “On Machines”

    Guattari, Félix. 1995. “On Machines”. Edited by Andrew Benjamin. Complexity: Architecture, Art, Philosophy, Journal of Philosophy and the Visual Arts, , no. 6: 96.

    Hacking, Ian. 2014. “What Makes Mathematics Mathematics?”

    Hacking, Ian. 2014. “What Makes Mathematics Mathematics?”. In Why Is There Philosophy of Mathematics at All?. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107279346.

    Heyting, Arend. 1956. “Disputation”

    Heyting, Arend. 1956. “Disputation”. In Intuitionism: An Introduction, 1–12. Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.

    Martin-Löf, Per. 1982. “Constructive Mathematics and Computer Programming”

    Martin-Löf, Per. 1982. “Constructive Mathematics and Computer Programming”. In Studies in Logic and the Foundations of Mathematics, 104:153–75. North-Holland Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0049-237X(09)70189-2.

    Martin-Löf, Per. 1987. “Truth of a Proposition, Evidence of a Judgement, Validity of a Proof”

    Martin-Löf, Per. 1987. “Truth of a Proposition, Evidence of a Judgement, Validity of a Proof”. Synthese 73 (3): 407–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00484985.

    Nofre, David, Mark Priestley, and Gerard Alberts. 2014. “When Technology Became Language: The Origins of the Linguistic Conception of Computer Programming, 1950–1960”

    Nofre, David, Mark Priestley, and Gerard Alberts. 2014. “When Technology Became Language: The Origins of the Linguistic Conception of Computer Programming, 1950–1960”. Technology and Culture 55 (1): 40–75. https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2014.0031.

    Poincaré, Henri. 2005. “Mathematics and Logic: II”

    Poincaré, Henri. 2005. “Mathematics and Logic: II”. In From Kant to Hilbert: A Source Book in the Foundations of Mathematics, edited by William Bragg Ewald, 2:1038–52. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

    Russell, Bertrand. 1905. “On Denoting”

    Russell, Bertrand. 1905. “On Denoting”. Mind 14 (4): 479–93. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/XIV.4.479.

    Soare, Robert I.. 1996. “Computability and Recursion”

    Soare, Robert I.. 1996. “Computability and Recursion”. Bulletin of Symbolic Logic 2 (03): 284–321. https://doi.org/10.2307/420992.

    Van Atten, Mark, and Göran Sundholm. 2017. “L.E.J. Brouwer's ‘unreliability of the Logical Principles’: A New Translation, with an Introduction”

    Van Atten, Mark, and Göran Sundholm. 2017. “L.E.J. Brouwer's ‘unreliability of the Logical Principles’: A New Translation, with an Introduction”. History and Philosophy of Logic 38 (1): 24–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/01445340.2016.1210986.