[St Augustine of Hippo] became of a Maniche, and of a platoniste a good christian.

I suspect that in their hearts most working mathematicians are Platonists, in that they take it as a matter of unassailable if unprovable fact that mathematical reality stands apart from the world, and is at least as real as the world, and possibly gives shape to the world, as Plato suggested.

So attention to Quine and Putnam’s writings is important, not just to set the record straight, but because it reveals some new argumentative strategies for platonists to exploit.

Platonist

Meaning

Noun

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