Ontological reduction in mathematics. Part I. Cover Image

Redukcje ontologiczne w matematyce. Część I
Ontological reduction in mathematics. Part I.

Author(s): Krzysztof Wójtowicz
Subject(s): Philosophy
Published by: Uniwersytet Warszawski - Wydział Filozofii i Socjologii, Instytut Filozofii
Keywords: philosophy of mathematics; mathematical realism; ontological reduction; set theory

Summary/Abstract: The article is the first part of a series of papers devoted to the problem of ontological reductions in mathematics — in particular, of choosing the basic category of mathematical entities. The received view is that such a category is provided by set theory, which serves as the ontological framework for the whole of mathematics (as all mathematical entities can be represented as sets). However, from the point of view of “naive mathematical realism” we should rather think of the mathematical universe as populated by a variety of diverse mathematical objects, and the settheoretic reduction seems to be rather unnatural. In the first (introductory) part I discuss the general problem of providing an ontological foundation for mathematics.

  • Issue Year: 16/2008
  • Issue No: 3-4(63-64)
  • Page Range: 105-118
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish