Some Remarks on the Physicalist Account of Mathematics

Ferenc Csatari

Department of Logic, Institute of Philosophy, E?tv?s Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.

DOI: 10.4236/ojpp.2012.22025                

Abstract

The paper comments on a rather uncommon approach to mathematics called physicalist formalism. According to this view, the formal systems mathematicians concern with are nothing more and nothing less than genuine physical systems. I give a brief review on the main theses, then I provide some arguments, concerning mostly with the practice of mathematics and the uniqueness of formal systems, aiming to show the implausibility of this radical view.

Keywords

Physicalism; Formalism; Philosophy of Mathematics

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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