What do you think?
Rate this book
Mathematical Thought and its Objects
In Mathematical Thought and Its Objects, Charles Parsons examines the notion of object, with the aim to navigate between nominalism, denying that distinctively mathematical objects exist, and forms of Platonism that postulate a transcendent realm of such objects. He introduces the central mathematical notion of structure and defends a version of the structuralist view of mathematical objects, according to which their existence is relative to a structure and they have no more of a “nature” than that confers on them.
- GenresPhilosophyMathematics
400 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2007
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 31, 2023
Just a quote from his father about social objects:
A normative concept is not abstract only in the sense that, for instance, the conception of a frictionless machine is abstract, that, for purposes of the analysis in hand, it does not at the moment exist. It is further abstract in the sense that if it did, or could, exist apart from action in the particular concrete context in question, it could not have normative significance, for a normative concept always refers factually to a state of affairs which in some respects requires action to bring about or maintain. At least in the terms employed by the theory of mechanics, the idea of a frictionless machine can have no influence on the behavior of wheels, rods, cylinders and valves; this idea does not operate to reduce the amount of friction except through the mind of an engineer, that is by a process of action. But there is every reason to believe that the idea of "equality" influences the behavior of human beings and actually in certain respects operates to reduce the degree of inequality.
A normative concept is not abstract only in the sense that, for instance, the conception of a frictionless machine is abstract, that, for purposes of the analysis in hand, it does not at the moment exist. It is further abstract in the sense that if it did, or could, exist apart from action in the particular concrete context in question, it could not have normative significance, for a normative concept always refers factually to a state of affairs which in some respects requires action to bring about or maintain. At least in the terms employed by the theory of mechanics, the idea of a frictionless machine can have no influence on the behavior of wheels, rods, cylinders and valves; this idea does not operate to reduce the amount of friction except through the mind of an engineer, that is by a process of action. But there is every reason to believe that the idea of "equality" influences the behavior of human beings and actually in certain respects operates to reduce the degree of inequality.
Want to Read
March 8, 2021KB posted a photo of this but I can’t see what it’s in reply to.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews