Abstract

This short introduction to the philosophy of mathematics focuses on the main ontological and epistemological concerns raised by any realist position on the existence of abstract objects. The first half of the book outlines Plato's and Kant's views on mathematics. The second half discusses the ontological and epistemological problems discussed in Paul Benacerraf's two seminal articles "What Numbers Could not Be" (1965) and "Mathematical Truth" (1973).