The Theories of Value and Opposition Applied to Mathematics

The concepts of valeur and difference put forward by Saussure led in the 1920s to the overall theory of opposition as the central model of structuralism. As analytical techniques, value and opposition have resurfaced as valuable tools for investigating all kinds of representational phenomena and knowledge systems. One of these is mathematics, which demonstrates an oppositional structure and, thus, allows us to both understand its conceptual structure and to test the theories of value and opposition in a specific domain of knowledge. This essay revisits value and opposition theories not only as a viable theory for understanding mathematics, but also as a powerful technique for establishing the interconnectedness of semiotic codes, culture and cognition.