This course will follow Michèle Friend's book "pluralism in mathematics". It will survey various mainstream philosophies of mathematics, and suggest a pluralist integration.
Lernziel
The goal is to introduce students to mainstream philosophies of mathematics, allow them to critically examine common views about mathematics, develop their analytic skills by handling philosophical questions, and enable a pluralist approach to philosophical questions.
Inhalt
The course will examine realist, constructivist, structuralist and formalist philosophies of mathematics, and follow Friend in suggesting a pluralist approach that combines the various positions based on our agnosticism as to the best philosophy and a paraconsistent approach to philosophical logic. In this course we will learn the various positions, critically evaluate Friend's arguments, and consider the general merits and limitations of pluralist and paraconsistent philosophical approaches.
