The Philosophy of Mathematics

Oxford Readings in Philosophy

by Wibur Dyre Hart (editor)

This volume offers a selection of the most interesting and important work from recent years in the philosophy of mathematics, which has always been closely linked to, and has exerted a significant influence upon, the main stream of analytical philosophy. The issues discussed are of interest throughout philosophy, and no mathematical expertise is required of the reader. Contributors include W.V. Quine, W.D. Hart, Michael Dummett, Charles Parsons, Paul Benacerraf, Penelope Maddy, W.W. Tait, Hilary Putnam, George Boolos, Daniel Isaacson, Stewart Shapiro, and Hartry Field.

Genres: Mathematics, Philosophy

322 pages, Paperback

First published August 22, 1996

Reviews

[Paige McLoughlin]

This is a little more accessible than many works in this specialized discipline of philosophy of mathematics. It tackles the problem of epistemology and metaphysical statuses of the truths of mathematics. If mathematical objects are truly independent of time and space how do we perceive them? It covers Quine's attempt to dismantle Kant's analytic/synthetic distinction, various positions on of schools of thought, including intuitionists, Logicists, realists, platonists, structuralists. In light of the 19th-century search for rigor, the set-theoretical and logicist approaches and the break up on the reef of Godel's incompleteness theorem. A good intermediate text on the subject.