Objectivity in logic

A phenomenological approach

Robert G. Wolf

pp. 169-185

in: Don Ihde, Richard Zaner (eds), Interdisciplinary phenomenology, Berlin, Springer, 1977

Abstract

One constant temptation of human thinking in both logic and mathematics is the claim that mathematical objects are in some sense "real". This temptation surfaces in a number of ways—one is the recurrent metaphysical position of "Platonism". Another is the language of "discovery" in mathematics; a third is the natural use of visual imagery in talk about mathematics and a fourth is the impersonal "objective" character accorded to mathematical theory.