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What numbers are

Synthese 27 (1-2):111 - 124 (1974)

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  1. Arithmetic, Set Theory, Reduction and Explanation.William D’Alessandro - 2018 - Synthese 195 (11):5059-5089.
    Philosophers of science since Nagel have been interested in the links between intertheoretic reduction and explanation, understanding and other forms of epistemic progress. Although intertheoretic reduction is widely agreed to occur in pure mathematics as well as empirical science, the relationship between reduction and explanation in the mathematical setting has rarely been investigated in a similarly serious way. This paper examines an important particular case: the reduction of arithmetic to set theory. I claim that the reduction is unexplanatory. In defense (...)
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  • Plato's Problem: An Introduction to Mathematical Platonism.Marco Panza & Andrea Sereni - 2013 - New York: Palgrave-Macmillan. Edited by Andrea Sereni & Marco Panza.
    What is mathematics about? And if it is about some sort of mathematical reality, how can we have access to it? This is the problem raised by Plato, which still today is the subject of lively philosophical disputes. This book traces the history of the problem, from its origins to its contemporary treatment. It discusses the answers given by Aristotle, Proclus and Kant, through Frege's and Russell's versions of logicism, Hilbert's formalism, Gödel's platonism, up to the the current debate on (...)
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  • Propositions, numbers, and the problem of arbitrary identification.Joseph G. Moore - 1999 - Synthese 120 (2):229-263.
    Those inclined to believe in the existence of propositions as traditionally conceived might seek to reduce them to some other type of entity. However, parsimonious propositionalists of this type are confronted with a choice of competing candidates – for example, sets of possible worlds, and various neo-Russellian and neo-Fregean constructions. It is argued that this choice is an arbitrary one, and that it closely resembles the type of problematic choice that, as Benacerraf pointed out, bedevils the attempt to reduce numbers (...)
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  • Counterfactuals and the applications of mathematics.Stuart Cornwell - 1992 - Philosophical Studies 66 (1):73 - 87.
    It has been argued that the attempt to meet indispensability arguments for realism in mathematics, by appeal to counterfactual statements, presupposes a view of mathematical modality according to which even though mathematical entities do not exist, they might have existed. But I have sought to defend this controversial view of mathematical modality from various objections derived from the fact that the existence or nonexistence of mathematical objects makes no difference to the arrangement of concrete objects. This defense of the controversial (...)
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  • Against the monism of the moment: A reply to Elliott Sober.Philip Kitcher - 1984 - Philosophy of Science 51 (4):616-630.
    In his "Discussion" (1984), Elliott Sober offers some criticisms of the view about species--pluralistic realism--advocated in my 1984. Sober's comments divide into three parts. He attempts to show that species are not sets; he responds to my critique of David Hull's thesis that species are individuals; and he offers some arguments for the claim that species are "chunks of the genealogical nexus." I consider each of these objections in turn, arguing that each of them fails. I attempt to use Sober's (...)
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  • Breaking the Tie: Benacerraf’s Identification Argument Revisited.Arnon Avron & Balthasar Grabmayr - 2023 - Philosophia Mathematica 31 (1):81-103.
    Most philosophers take Benacerraf’s argument in ‘What numbers could not be’ to rebut successfully the reductionist view that numbers are sets. This philosophical consensus jars with mathematical practice, in which reductionism continues to thrive. In this note, we develop a new challenge to Benacerraf’s argument by contesting a central premise which is almost unanimously accepted in the literature. Namely, we argue that — contra orthodoxy — there are metaphysically relevant reasons to prefer von Neumann ordinals over other set-theoretic reductions of (...)
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  • John Corcoran.José M. Sagüillo, Michael Scanlan & Stewart Shapiro - 2021 - History and Philosophy of Logic 42 (3):201-223.
    We present a memorial summary of the professional life and contributions to logic of John Corcoran. We also provide a full list of his many publications.Courtesy of Lynn Corcoran.
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  • Arithmetical Fiction.Steven Wagner - 1982 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 63 (3):255--69.
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