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arXiv · 1508.00001

Michelangelo's Stone: an Argument against Platonism in Mathematics

Carlo Rovelli
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Abstract

If there is a "platonic world" M of mathematical facts, what does M contain precisely? I observe that if M is too large, it is uninteresting, because the value is in the selection, not in the totality; if it is smaller and interesting, it is not independent from us. Both alternatives challenge mathematical platonism. I suggest that the universality of our mathematics may be a prejudice hiding its contingency, and illustrate contingent aspects of classical geometry, arithmetic and linear algebra.

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Carlo Rovelli. 2015-09-06. Michelangelo's Stone: an Argument against Platonism in Mathematics. https://arxiv.org/abs/1508.00001

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