The concrete numbers of “primitive” societies: A historiographical approach

Abstract

From the 19^th century onwards, some mathematicians and philosophers (G. Peacock, L. Conant, L. Lévy-Bruhl, L. Brunschvicg et al.), analyzed the numerical systems in use in so-called primitive societies as having a more “concrete” (or less “abstract”) character than those developed in more “advanced” societies. This article aims to better understand—and compare—what this opposition between “abstract numbers” and “concrete numbers” actually meant for these authors, as well as the characteristics of the “primitive mentality”—which they believed—this opposition would highlight.