On the fictionality of mathematical objects (Q1601184)

The author proposes a constructive fictionalism for dealing with modes of existence of mathematical objects, thereby combining elements of E.\ von Glasersfeld's radical constructivism with H.\ Vaihinger's if-then fictionalism (``Philosophie des Als-Ob''). The paper elaborates the following thesis: We have no access to mathematical objects like numbers, functions, spaces, etc.\ as such. In most cases the objects of higher mathematics have no representatives. There are only features described and determined in language, which can be regarded as features of the respective objects. Mathematical research deals with these features. Mathematical objects are then imagined (fictitious, postulated, arranged in mathematical discourse) holders of these features, relations or operations (pp.\ 127--128). The thesis is argued for by considering several aspects of mathematical concept formation, e.g., by discussing \(\sqrt{2}\) as mathematical object originating in idealizations which can only be reached in symbolic language. Axiomatized set theory and the set of natural numbers are further examples.