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Michelangelo’s Stone: an Argument against Platonism in Mathematics

Rovelli, Carlo (2015) Michelangelo’s Stone: an Argument against Platonism in Mathematics. [Preprint]

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Abstract

If there is a ‘platonic world’ M of mathematical facts, what does M contain precisely? I observe that if M is too large, it is uninteresting, because the value is in the selection, not in the totality; if it is smaller and interesting, it is not independent of us. Both alternatives challenge mathematical platonism. I suggest that the universality of our mathematics may be a prejudice hiding its contingency, and illustrate contingent aspects of classical geometry, arithmetic and linear algebra.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Rovelli, Carlorovelli@cpt.univ-mrs.fr0000-0003-1724-9737
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Ontology
Specific Sciences > Mathematics
Depositing User: Carlo Rovelli
Date Deposited: 06 Sep 2015 14:49
Last Modified: 11 Jul 2024 13:14
Item ID: 11659
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Ontology
Specific Sciences > Mathematics
Date: 6 September 2015
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11659

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