Open texture and mathematics (Q1982002)

According to Friedrich Waismann a predicate \(P\), from a natural language, exhibits open texture if it is possible for there to be an object \(a\) such that nothing concerning the established use of \(P\), and nothing concerning the nonlinguistic facts, determines that \(P\) holds of \(a\), nor does anything determine that \(P\) fails to hold of \(a\). If \(P\) is open-textured, then the truth of the sentence, or proposition expressed by \(Pa\) is left open by the use of the language and the nonlinguistic facts. The purpose of the paper under review is to explore the extent to which mathematics is subject to open texture and the extent to which mathematics resists open texture. The resistance is tied to the importance of proof and, in particular, rigor, in mathematics.