Naturalism, Truth and Beauty in Mathematics

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 mathemat...

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Veröffentlicht in:Philosophia mathematica 2007-06, Vol.15 (2), p.141-165
1. Verfasser: Moore, Matthew E.
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung: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.
ISSN:0031-8019
1744-6406
DOI:10.1093/philmat/nkm003