Parsimony and inference to the best mathematical explanation.

Indispensability-based arguments for mathematical platonism are typically motivated by drawing an analogy between abstract mathematical objects and concrete scientific posits. In this paper, I argue that mathematics can sometimes help to reduce our concrete ontological, ideological, and structural c...

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Bibliographic Details

Published in:	Synthese Vol. 193; no. 2; pp. 333 - 351
Main Author:	Baker, Alan
Format:	Article
Published:	Springer Nature Feb2016
Subjects:	Parsimonious models Philosophy of mathematics Platonists Nominalism Ontology
Online Access:	View this record in EBSCOhost