Open AccessMathematical Concepts as Natural Kinds
Author(s) -
Daniel Arvage Nagase
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
revista de filosofia moderna e contemporânea
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2317-9570
DOI - 10.26512/rfmc.v6i2.19014
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , epistemology , metaphysics , natural (archaeology) , natural kind , order (exchange) , philosophy , computer science , artificial intelligence , history , archaeology , finance , economics , identity (music) , aesthetics
This paper presents an approach to mathematical terms similar to the approach developed by Kripke in order to deal with natural kind terms; in fact, I argue that mathematical terms are natural kind terms in the sense of Kripke. Thus, I suggest that, from a semantic perspective, such terms should be seen as primarily referring terms, and, from a metaphysical perspective, that good definitions of such terms should embody structural information about the exemplars from the kind in question.