Ep. 33 - Do Mathematical Objects Exist? | Dr. Jody Azzouni

from Patterson in Pursuit · host Steve Patterson

What are numbers? What are concepts? Do they exist, or do we just act like they exist? I'm joined by Dr. Jody Azzouni of Tufts University. He's a philosopher who has been arguing for nominalism for years - the idea that numbers and abstract objects don't exist at all. His position is a wonderful contrast to the previous interviews I've done on this topic, where the guests have been Platonists. My own views sit in-between nominalism and Platonism. I think abstract objects exist, but they do not exist in a Platonic realm. They exist in our minds. When we stop thinking about them, they stop existing. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Dec 4, 2016

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