Mathematical Formalism
Mathematics operates on symbols by rules; those symbols need not refer to objects.
What it claims
Formalism treats mathematics in terms of formal systems and rule-governed manipulation, rather than requiring descriptions of independently existing abstract objects. Its attraction is economy: finite operations on symbols do not immediately pose the problem of knowing causally inaccessible entities. Curry characterizes mathematics as an objective science of formal systems.
Nearby positions
Goes together with
Key thinkers
David Hilbert · Haskell Curry · John von Neumann · Paul Bernays · Abraham Robinson