By: Alexandria Addesso
From a very young age children are introduced to the language of math. Mathematics transcends every language barrier and is internationally known and used to quantify everything on Earth and beyond. Students are indoctrinated into the advance language of mathematics as though their own existence depended on it.
But do numbers actually exist? It’s a question that could shake some to their core, yet a simple “no” should not seem erroneous to those who employ logic. Numbers are used to keep record of tangible things that do exist. Do you remember how much math teachers stressed the importance of recording the units with the answer to the problems you worked on?
But are numbers a part of nature since they can be employed to keep track of everything in nature or are they a human creation? Are they simply an idea that stuck? A school of thought loosely related to the Greek philosopher Plato, known as Platonism, argues that yes they do exist. This school of thought identifies numbers as abstract objects. Abstract objects differ from tangible objects because they cannot be perceived in the physical world, they are outside of time and space. Much like an idea or concept before coming into fruition. But if something cannot be perceived how can it exist? Do we need to have faith in numbers for them to exist?
The nominalist school of thought claims that numbers exist only to the degree that they are used to describe things that actually do exist. Everything must have a unit.
“Our mathematical claims should best be understood as claims about objects in the world; so tables, chairs, pencils that sort of thing,” said Dr. Jonathan Tallant, an expert in the field of the Philosophy of Mathematics, while explaining the nominalist view.
The school of mathematical fictionalism believes numbers do not exist. Fictionalism do not believe in mathematical systems in general. They claim that the language of mathematics is merely a useful fiction, since numbers do not tangibly exist solely in and of themselves, they cannot be true.
Three different perspectives, and none of which can certainly be verified. Is the glass half empty? or half full? Turn it upside down.
From a very young age children are introduced to the language of math. Mathematics transcends every language barrier and is internationally known and used to quantify everything on Earth and beyond. Students are indoctrinated into the advance language of mathematics as though their own existence depended on it.
But do numbers actually exist? It’s a question that could shake some to their core, yet a simple “no” should not seem erroneous to those who employ logic. Numbers are used to keep record of tangible things that do exist. Do you remember how much math teachers stressed the importance of recording the units with the answer to the problems you worked on?
But are numbers a part of nature since they can be employed to keep track of everything in nature or are they a human creation? Are they simply an idea that stuck? A school of thought loosely related to the Greek philosopher Plato, known as Platonism, argues that yes they do exist. This school of thought identifies numbers as abstract objects. Abstract objects differ from tangible objects because they cannot be perceived in the physical world, they are outside of time and space. Much like an idea or concept before coming into fruition. But if something cannot be perceived how can it exist? Do we need to have faith in numbers for them to exist?
The nominalist school of thought claims that numbers exist only to the degree that they are used to describe things that actually do exist. Everything must have a unit.
“Our mathematical claims should best be understood as claims about objects in the world; so tables, chairs, pencils that sort of thing,” said Dr. Jonathan Tallant, an expert in the field of the Philosophy of Mathematics, while explaining the nominalist view.
The school of mathematical fictionalism believes numbers do not exist. Fictionalism do not believe in mathematical systems in general. They claim that the language of mathematics is merely a useful fiction, since numbers do not tangibly exist solely in and of themselves, they cannot be true.
Three different perspectives, and none of which can certainly be verified. Is the glass half empty? or half full? Turn it upside down.
