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Sets are Universals

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Physicalism in Mathematics

Part of the book series: The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science ((WONS,volume 45))

Abstract

Plato was right: mathematics is the study of the Forms. He may not have been entirely right, for instance, about what the Forms are, or about when and where they are to be found. Yet he was not entirely wrong either. In fact, he was quite right about the most important things. Mathematics does deal with properties and relationships, patterns and structures: things which can be instantiated by many, very diverse things, and so, things which qualify as universals.

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© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Bigelow, J. (1990). Sets are Universals. In: Irvine, A.D. (eds) Physicalism in Mathematics. The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1902-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1902-0_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7348-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-1902-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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