Problems with prolifigate Platonism

pp. 172-193

in: Colin Cheyne, Knowledge, cause, and abstract objects, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

Variations on a new platonist epistemology have been offered recently. Mark Balaguer (1995, 1998a & 1998b) offers one version, and Bernard Linsky and Edward Zalta (1995) another. Although there are important differences between their proposals, what they have in common is the suggestion that if there is a plenitude of mathematical entities, then there is no problem about acquiring knowledge of them. I first discuss Balaguer's proposal and then discuss the extent to which Linsky and Zalta's account faces similar problems.¹