Philosophy of Logic & Mathematics · The status of mathematical objects

Mathematical Platonism

Numbers and sets exist independently of us, outside space and time.

What it claims

Mathematical Platonism holds that objects such as numbers, sets, and functions exist independently of thought and language. They are abstract and causally inactive. Mathematical statements are interpreted literally, with truth not constituted by our proving them.

Nearby positions

Key thinkers

Kurt Gödel · Gottlob Frege · W. V. O. Quine · Hilary Putnam · Penelope Maddy · Mark Colyvan