A dialogical conception of explanation in mathematical proofs
pp. 81-98
in: Paul Ernest (ed), The philosophy of mathematics education today, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
In this chapter, I argue that the issue of explanatoriness in mathematical proofs can be fruitfully addressed within the dialogical conceptualization of proofs that I have been developing in recent years. The key idea is to emphasize the observation that a proof is a piece of discourse aimed at an intended audience, with the intent to produce explanatory persuasion. This approach explains both why explanatory proofs are to be preferred over non- or less explanatory ones, and why explanatoriness is an audience-relative property of a proof. This account is also able to clarify a number of features of mathematical practice.