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Full Idea
If mathematics was purely concerned with mathematical objects, there would be no room for applied mathematics.
Gist of Idea
If mathematics purely concerned mathematical objects, there would be no applied mathematics
Source
Oliver,A/Smiley,T (What are Sets and What are they For? [2006], 5.1)
Book Ref
'Metaphysics (Philosophical Perspectives 20)', ed/tr. Hawthorne,John [Blackwell 2006], p.146
A Reaction
Love it! Of course, they are using 'objects' in the rather Fregean sense of genuine abstract entities. I don't see why fictionalism shouldn't allow maths to be wholly 'pure', although we have invented fictions which actually have application.