Naturalism, Truth and Beauty in Mathematics | OUP Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Naturalism, Truth and Beauty in Mathematics


Abstract:

Can a scientific naturalist be a mathematical realist? I review some arguments, derived largely from the writings of Penelope Maddy, for a negative answer. The rejoinder ...Show More

Abstract:

Can a scientific naturalist be a mathematical realist? I review some arguments, derived largely from the writings of Penelope Maddy, for a negative answer. The rejoinder from the realist side is that the irrealist cannot explain, as well as the realist can, why a naturalist should grant the mathematician the degree of methodological autonomy that the irrealist's own arguments require. Thus a naturalist, as such, has at least as much reason to embrace mathematical realism as to embrace irrealism.
Published in: Philosophia Mathematica ( Volume: 15, Issue: 2, June 2007)
Page(s): 141 - 165
Date of Publication: June 2007

ISSN Information:


Contact IEEE to Subscribe