Clarendon Paperbacks Realism in Mathematics

This monograph develops and defends a novel version of mathematical realism - the view that to engage in mathematics is to investigate the features of real mathematical things - and refocuses philosophical attention on the pressing foundational issues of contemporary mathematics. When engaged in mathematics, most people 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? Penelope Maddy delineates and defends a novel version of mathematical realism that answers the traditional questions and refocuses philosophical attention on the pressing foundational issues of contemporary mathematics.