Mathematical modernity, goal or problem? The opposing views of Felix Hausdorff and Hermann Weyl

Abstract

This paper contains a case study of the work and self-definition of two important mathematicians during the rise of modern mathematics: Felx Hausdorff (1868--1942) and Hermann Weyl (1885--1955). The two had strongly diverging positions with regard to basic questions of mathematical methodology, which is reflected in the style and content of their mathematical research. Herbert Mehrtens (1990) describes them as protagonists of what he sees as the two opposing camps of ``modernists'' (Hilbert, Hausdorff et al.) and ``countermodernists'' (Brouwer, Weyl et al.). There is no doubt that Hausdorff may be described as a mathematical ``modernist''', while the qualification of Weyl as ``countermodern'' is rather off the track, once his work is taken into account.