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Science Without Numbers
''Science Without Numbers: A Defence of Nominalism'' is a 1980 book on the philosophy of mathematics by Hartry Field. In the book, Field defends Mathematical nominalism, nominalism, the view that Mathematical object, mathematical objects such as Number, numbers do not exist. The book was written broadly in response to an argument for the existence of mathematical objects called the indispensability argument. According to this argument, belief in mathematical objects is justified because mathematics is indispensable to science. The main project of the book is producing technical reconstructions of science that remove reference to mathematical entities, hence showing that mathematics is not indispensable to science. Modelled on Hilbert's axioms, Hilbert's axiomatization of geometry, which eschews numerical distances in favor of primitive geometrical relationships, Field demonstrates an approach to reformulate Newton's theory of gravity without the need to reference numbers. Acco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hartry Field
Hartry Hamlin Field (born November 30, 1946) is an American philosopher. He is Silver Professor of Philosophy at New York University; he is a notable contributor to philosophy of science, philosophy of mathematics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind. Early life and education Hartry Hamlin Field was born on November 30, 1946, in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, to Adelaide () and Donald Field. Field earned a B.A. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1967 and an M.A. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1968. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard in 1972 under the direction of Hilary Putnam and Richard Boyd. Academic career He taught first at Princeton University, and then at the University of Southern California and City University of New York Graduate Center before joining the NYU faculty in 1997, where he is currently Silver Professor of Philosophy. Field was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003 and is also a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |