[FOM] Fictionalism About Mathematics

[T.Forster at dpmms.cam.ac.uk]

It is true that there are people in Philosophy departments who espouse 
fictionalism, but i have yet to meet a working mathematician who does. The 
problem i have with this kind of talk is this: ficticious objects have real 
counterparts. People in novels, plays etc, are fictions. We (sort-of) know 
how to deal with this beco's there are *real* people as well. But if 
mathematical entities are to be fictions, what real things are they 
fictions of? And if they aren't, why call them fictions?