The Nature of Mathematics Given Physicalism

by Magnus Vinding

What is mathematics?

This book aims to explore the nature of mathematics given a physicalist ontology. It begins by outlining a physicalist account of the nature of mathematics presented by László Szabó, and proceeds to discuss the main objections faced by this account so as to assess the plausibility of physicalist views of mathematics.

It is concluded that it seems possible to accommodate mathematics within a physicalist ontology, and that a physicalist account of the nature of mathematics even seems most plausible, all things considered. This has unexpected and intriguing implications for the nature of mathematics, as such an account breaks down the widely accepted dichotomy between “mathematics” and “the physical world”.

42 pages

Published June 1, 2018

About the author

Magnus Vinding is the author of Speciesism: Why It Is Wrong and the Implications of Rejecting It (2015), Reflections on Intelligence (2016), You Are Them (2017), Effective Altruism: How Can We Best Help Others? (2018), Suffering-Focused Ethics: Defense and Implications (2020), Reasoned Politics (2022), Essays on Suffering-Focused Ethics (2022), and Essays on UFOs and Related Conjectures (2024).

His next book will be Compassionate Purpose: Personal Inspiration for a Better World.

Reviews

[Daniel Hageman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much outside my wheelhouse, but definitely an area for which I'll have to come back to at some point. Relying heavily on the veracity of Magnus's other writings to guide my openness to the claim made here, as I personally would have very little capacity to defend them.