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Not only that, but most philosophers who specialize in the philosophy of mathematics are Platonists: https://philpapers.org/surveys/results.pl?affil=Target+facu
by virissimo 4y ago
Not only that, but most philosophers who specialize in the philosophy of mathematics are Platonists: https://philpapers.org/surveys/results.pl?affil=Target+faculty&areas0=47&areas_max=1&grain=coarse https://philpapers.org/surveys/results.pl?affil=Target+facul.... IME, this is also true of working mathematicians, but much less true of physicists.
- jhanschoo 4y agoWhat does being Platonist mean in this case; I wonder. The definition I've been given once is just that mathematical objects exist, but philosophers take it to mean that one believes in Plato's Theory of Ideas. The Theory of Ideas is a major development by Plato, but it has fatal flaws as set out in Plato's Parmenides. If so, I wonder how these Platonists have chosen to resolve it.
- hither_shores 4y ago> philosophers take it to mean that one believes in Plato's Theory of Ideas. This is not accurate. Platonism, in a contemporary context, is the view that abstract objects exist. And so in particular to be platonist about mathematics is to believe in the existence of mathematical entities.
- jhanschoo 4y agoThanks for correcting me.
- dr_dshiv 4y agoWhat’s the difference between theory of ideas and the belief that abstract ideas exist?
- jhanschoo 4y agoThe Theory of Ideas (aka Theory of Forms) is a specific conception of the true nature of the universe. Wikipedia seems to have a quite adequate introduction to it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms