On the Concept of Finitism

Authors
Publication date 08-2015
Journal Synthese
Volume | Issue number 192 | 8
Pages (from-to) 2413-2436
Organisations
  • Interfacultary Research - Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC)
Abstract At the most general level, the concept of finitism is typically characterized by saying that finitistic mathematics is that part of mathematics which does not appeal to completed infinite totalities and is endowed with some epistemological property that makes it secure or privileged. This paper argues that this characterization can in fact be sharpened in various ways, giving rise to different conceptions of finitism. The paper investigates these conceptions and shows that they sanction different portions of mathematics as finitistic.
Document type Article
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-014-0639-3
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