Often people have wondered why there is no introductory text on category theory aimed at philosophers working in related areas. The answer is simple: what makes categories interesting and significant is their specific use for specific purposes. These uses and purposes, however, vary over many areas, both "pure", e.g., mathematical, foundational and logical, and "applied", e.g., applied to physics, biology and the nature and structure of mathematical models. Borrowing from the title of Saunders Mac Lane's seminal work "Categories for the Working Mathematician", this book aims to bring the concepts of category theory to philosophers working in areas ranging from mathematics to proof theory to computer science to ontology, from to physics to biology to cognition, from mathematical modeling to the structure of scientific theories to the structure of the world. Moreover, it aims to do this in a way that is accessible to non-specialists. Each chapter is written by either a category-theorist or a philosopher working in one of the represented areas, and in a way that builds on the concepts that are already familiar to philosophers working in these areas.

About the Author
Elaine Landry is professor of philosophy at the University of California, Davis. Her research spans three broad areas within Philosophy of Science: history and philosophy of mathematics, history and philosophy of science, and Plato's philosophy of mathematics. She is one of few philosophers who works on building bridges between all of these areas of research. Her papers are referenced in the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (SEP) under the entries for both "Category Theory" and "Structural Realism"

Reviews
'Professor Landry is to be congratulated on putting together a stimulating volume that introduces a broad audience to so many of the key conceptual, foundational, and philosophical ideas driving contemporary work at the intersection of philosophy and category theory' * Chris Kapulkin and Nicholas, The British Journal for Philosophy of Science *
'An excellent illustration of why category theory might interest a 'working' philosopher' * John Dougherty, Philosophy of Science *
'An important and interesting work. Landry has curated some wonderful essays on category theory for the working philosopher, and as long as one goes in with an understanding of the difficulty of the material, I can heartily recommend it to the philosopher wishing to know more about category theory and its applications' * Neil Barton, Philosophia Mathematica *
'Each chapter is such a rich source of knowledge that it deserves a review as long as the present one, for, while providing essential information on specific topics, each is more than just a survey of well-established contents: it offers a key for their unification, guides the reader through recent research, and investigates issues at the frontiers of mathematical knowledge which are relevant for applications to various scientific domains. There is a vivid sense of unity among most chapters as tiles of one work in progress, having importance for mathematics, logic and philosophy, even though, as one might expect, chapters differ in their emphasis on basic principles or approach them from different angles' * Alberto Peruzzi, Notre Dome Philosophical Reviews *
'Professor Landry is to be congratulated on putting together a stimulating volume that introduces a broad audience to so many of the key conceptual, foundational, and philosophical ideas driving contemporary work at the intersection of philosophy and category theory' * Chris Kapulkin and Nicholas Teh , BJPS *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198878049
Author Elaine Landry
Format Paperback
Page Count 496
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 740g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 155mm * 26mm