Non‐Factualism Versus Nominalism

Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 98 (3) (2017)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The platonism/nominalism debate in the philosophy of mathematics concerns the question whether numbers and other mathematical objects exist. Platonists believe the answer to be in the positive, nominalists in the negative. According to non-factualists, the question is ‘moot’, in the sense that it lacks a correct answer. Elaborating on ideas from Stephen Yablo, this article articulates a non-factualist position in the philosophy of mathematics and shows how the case for non-factualism entails that standard arguments for rival positions fail. In particular, showing how and why non-factualists reject nominalism illuminates the originality and interest of their position.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

The Internal/External Question.Philip Hugly & Charles Sayward - 1994 - Grazier Philosophishe Studien 47:31-41.
The Platonism vs. Nominalism Debate from a Meta-metaphysical Perspective.Guido Imaguire - 2015 - Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 71 (2-3):375-398.
Anti-nominalism reconsidered.David Liggins - 2007 - Philosophical Quarterly 57 (226):104–111.
Merits of Leśniewski type nominalism.Henning Hintze - 1995 - Logic and Logical Philosophy 3:101-114.
Merits of Lesniewski type nominalism.Henning Hintze - 1995 - Logic and Logical Philosophy 3:101-114.
On nominalism.Geoffrey Hellman - 2001 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 62 (3):691-705.
Indispensability arguments and instrumental nominalism.Richard Pettigrew - 2012 - Review of Symbolic Logic 5 (4):687-709.
Why deflationary nominalists shouldn’t be agnostics.Jody Azzouni - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (5):1143-1161.
Mathematical nominalism and measurement.Davide Rizza - 2010 - Philosophia Mathematica 18 (1):53-73.
Nominalismus und gesellschaft.Friedel Weinert - 1986 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 17 (2):322-345.
A Priority and Existence.Stephen Yablo - 2000 - In Paul Artin Boghossian & Christopher Peacocke (eds.), New Essays on the A Priori. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press. pp. 197.

Analytics

Added to PP
2015-11-03

Downloads
87 (#178,790)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Matteo Plebani
Università Degli Studi Di Torino

References found in this work

Counterfactuals.David K. Lewis - 1973 - Malden, Mass.: Blackwell.
Aboutness.Stephen Yablo - 2014 - Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Realism, Mathematics & Modality.Hartry H. Field - 1989 - New York, NY, USA: Blackwell.
Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Foundations of Language 13 (1):145-151.
Counterfactuals.David Lewis - 1973 - Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 36 (3):602-605.

View all 51 references / Add more references