Realism in Mathematics [Hardcover]

Penelope Maddy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 1990 | ISBN-10: 0198244525 | ISBN-13: 978-0198244523

Mathematicians tend to think of themselves as scientists investigating the features of real mathematical things, and the wildly successful application of mathematics in the physical sciences reinforces this picture of mathematics as an objective study. For philosophers, however, this realism about mathematics raises serious questions: What are mathematical things? Where are they? How do we know about them? Offering a scrupulously fair treatment of both mathematical and philosophical concerns, Penelope Maddy here delineates and defends a novel version of mathematical realism. She answers the traditional questions and poses a challenging new one, refocusing philosophical attention on the pressing foundational issues of contemporary mathematics.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Highly recommended....The book is a pleasure to read. Both mathematicians with interest in philosophy and philosophers of mathematics and science will enjoy and profit from it."--Modern Logic

"Written in a lively, engaging style. We hope it serves to stimulate others to think seriously about issues in the philosophy of mathematics because, as Maddy claims, these issues bear directly on mainstream philosophy."--Philosophy of Science

"The book is written in a lively, engaging style. We hope that it serves to stimulate others to think seriously about issues in philosophy of mathematics because, as Maddy claims, these issues bear directly on mainstream philosophy."--Philosophy of Science

"She has...clearly marked out an original and interesting position."--Times Higher Education Supplement

"Maddy has written a concise and lucid book which covers not only her own ideas on set-theoretic realism and the "reality" of mathematics, but also provides a useful summary of the old and continuing debates surrounding mathematical ontology. This feature makes the book ideal as a classroom text."--Review of Metaphysics

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Penelope Maddy is at University of California, Irvine; and currently Chair of the Department of Philosophy. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 11, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198244525
• ISBN-13: 978-0198244523
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,102,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the more interesting reads in math epistemology, March 22, 2006

By 

Erik Duncan (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Realism in Mathematics (Clarendon Paperbacks) (Paperback)

Penelope Maddy has written Realism In Mathematics clearly and cogently, with a grace of word and style not commonly found among analytics. In it she asserts that a causal justification of mathematical knowledge can be found in the patterns of neural firings at the moment of perceiving a set of objects. For example, when I see three apples a neural firing pattern goes off in my brain that is approximately similar to when I see three oranges etc. If I can have knowledge of sets, and we can found math with sets - I think you know where this is going.