TITLE:
Some Remarks on the Physicalist Account of Mathematics
AUTHORS:
Ferenc Csatari
KEYWORDS:
Physicalism; Formalism; Philosophy of Mathematics
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Philosophy,
Vol.2 No.2,
May
22,
2012
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.