Mark Steiner

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Mark Steiner (b. May 6, 1942) is a professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he specializes in the philosophy of mathematics and physics. He is best known for his book The Applicability of Mathematics as a Philosophical Problem, in which he attempted to explain the historical utility of mathematics in physics. The book may be considered an extended meditation on the issues raised by Eugene Wigner's article The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences [1]. The publisher writes, "Steiner argues that, on the contrary, these laws were discovered, using manmade mathematical analogies, resulting in an anthropocentric picture of the universe as "user friendly" to human cognition--a challenge to the entrenched dogma of naturalism." [2] Steiner is also the author of the book Mathematical Knowledge.