[Revised entry by Alan Weir on February 20, 2024.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
One common understanding of formalism in the philosophy of mathematics takes it as holding that mathematics is not a body of propositions representing an abstract sector of reality but is much more akin to a game, bringing with it no more commitment to an ontology of objects or properties than playing ludo or chess are normally thought to have. This idea has some intuitive plausibility: consider the tyro toiling at multiplication tables or the student using a standard algorithm for differentiating or integrating a function. It also corresponds to some…
Originally appeared on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Read More
