Realism in Mathematics [Paperback]

Mathematicians tend to think of themselves as scientists investigating the features of real mathematical things, and the wildly successful application of mathematics in the physical sciences reinforces this picture of mathematics as an objective study. For philosophers, however, this realism about mathematics raises serious questions: What are mathematical things? Where are they? How do we know about them? Offering a scrupulously fair treatment of both mathematical and philosophical concerns, Penelope Maddy here delineates and defends a novel version of mathematical realism. She answers the traditional questions and poses a challenging new one, refocusing philosophical attention on the pressing foundational issues of contemporary mathematics.

Highly recommended....The book is a pleasure to read. Both mathematicians with interest in philosophy and philosophers of mathematics and science will enjoy and profit from it. --Modern Logic

Written in a lively, engaging style. We hope it serves to stimulate others to think seriously about issues in the philosophy of mathematics because, as Maddy claims, these issues bear directly on mainstream philosophy. --Philosophy of Science

The book is written in a lively, engaging style. We hope that it serves to stimulate others to think seriously about issues in philosophy of mathematics because, as Maddy claims, these issues bear directly on mainstream philosophy. --Philosophy of Science

She has...clearly marked out an original and interesting position. --Times Higher Education Supplement

Maddy has written a concise and lucid book which covers not only her own ideas on set-theoretic realism and the reality of mathematics, but also provides a useful summary of the old and continuing debates surrounding mathematical ontology. This feature makes the book ideal as a classroom text. --Review of Metaphysics