ENGLISH

Platonism and anti-platonism in mathematics

By Mark Balaguer

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
1998
ISBN
9780195143980, 0195143981, 0195122305, 9780195122305
LCC
QA8.4 .B345 1998
Open Library ID
OL686197M
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
2 MB (1894231 bytes)
Pages
229\229
Library
Kolxo3
DPI
300
Orientation
no
Scanned
yes
Time added
2010-07-29 05:14:56

Description

In this book, Balaguer demonstrates that there are no good arguments for or against mathematical platonism. He does this by establishing that both platonism and anti-platonism are defensible views. Introducing a form of platonism ("full-blooded platonism") that solves all problems traditionally associated with the view, he proceeds to defend anti-platonism (in particular, mathematical fictionalism) against various attacks, most notably the Quine-Putnam indispensability attack. He concludes by arguing that it is not simply that we do not currently have any good argument for or against platonism, but that we could never have such an argument and, indeed, that there is no fact of the matter as to whether platonism is correct.

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