Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Knowledge, Possibility and Consciousness', 'Science without Numbers' and 'On Mental Entities'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts

---

1 idea

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / a. Numbers

8958	In Field's version of science, space-time points replace real numbers [Field,H, by Szabó]
	Full Idea: Field's nominalist version of science develops a version of Newtonian gravitational theory, where no quantifiers range over mathematical entities, and space-time points and regions play the role of surrogates for real numbers.
	From: report of Hartry Field (Science without Numbers [1980]) by Zoltán Gendler Szabó - Nominalism 5.1
	A reaction: This seems to be a very artificial contrivance, but Field has launched a programme for rewriting science so that numbers can be omitted. All of this is Field's rebellion against the Indispensability Argument for mathematics. I sympathise.