[FOM] Fictionalism About Mathematics

[Thomas Forster]

It also manifests the unproductive preoccupation with
ontology that one finds in much of the philophical literature.

On Tue, 13 Mar 2012, Avril Styrman wrote:

> Lainaus T.Forster at dpmms.cam.ac.uk:
>
>> But if mathematical entities are to be fictions, what real things are they 
>> fictions of? And if they aren't, why call them fictions?
>
> It would be simpler to say that we have abstract ideas/thoughts/theories; 
> some of these have correspondence with the concrete/physical reality/nature, 
> and some do not.
>
> Fictionalism is an unnecessarily complicated semantical formulation: it does 
> not help understanding stuff, but it can create confusion, as this thread 
> shows.
>
> A. Styrman
>


URL:  www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~tf; DPMMS ph: +44-1223-337981;
mobile +44-7887-701-562.