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Single Idea 8731

[filed under theme 6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 10. Constructivism / c. Conceptualism ]

Full Idea

I classify conceptualists according to what they say about properties or concepts. If someone classified properties as existing independent of language I would classify her as a realist in ontology of mathematics. Or they may be idealists or nominalists.

Gist of Idea

Conceptualist are just realists or idealist or nominalists, depending on their view of concepts

Source

Stewart Shapiro (Thinking About Mathematics [2000], 2.2.1)

Book Ref

Shapiro,Stewart: 'Thinking About Mathematics' [OUP 2000], p.26


A Reaction

In other words, Shapiro wants to eliminate 'conceptualist' as a useful label in philosophy of mathematics. He's probably right. All thought involves concepts, but that doesn't produce a conceptualist theory of, say, football.


The 8 ideas with the same theme [maths is just a set of human concepts in minds]:

We now know that mathematics only studies hypotheses, not facts [Peirce]
Abstraction from things produces concepts, and numbers are in the concepts [Frege]
Conceptualism holds that there are universals but they are mind-made [Quine]
The best version of conceptualism is predicativism [Bostock]
Conceptualism fails to grasp mathematical properties, infinity, and objective truth values [Bostock]
Conceptualists say we know mathematics a priori by possessing mathematical concepts [Kitcher]
If meaning makes mathematics true, you still need to say what the meanings refer to [Kitcher]
Conceptualist are just realists or idealist or nominalists, depending on their view of concepts [Shapiro]