In this chapter we interrogate the debate between mathematicians and mathematics educators. This debate is widely recognized in the United States, for instance, where the term math wars is often used in reference to the heated disagreements between mathematicians and mathematics edu- tors. Such recognition might suggest that this topic itself has relevance both for the academy and for educational policy pertaining to mathematics edu- tion. We propose to locate this debate, unavoidably, whenever and wherever mathematics education is written. Our aim is to show how the debate itself gives rise...