The Limits of Abstraction - Rilegato

Fine, Kit

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0199246181 ISBN 13: 9780199246182

Casa editrice: Clarendon Press, 2002

Riassunto

What is abstraction? To what extent can it account for the existence and identity of abstract objects? And to what extent can it be used as a foundation for mathematics? Kit Fine provides rigorous and systematic answers to these questions along the lines proposed by Frege, in a book concerned both with the technical development of the subject and with its philosophical underpinnings.
Fine proposes an account of what it is for a principle of abstraction to be acceptable, and these acceptable principles are exactly characterized. A formal theory of abstraction is developed and shown to be capable of providing a foundation for both arithmetic and analysis. Fine argues that the usual attempts to see principles of abstraction as forms of stipulative definition have been largely unsuccessful but that there may be other, more promising ways of vindicating the various forms of contextual definition.
The Limits of Abstraction breaks new ground both technically and philosophically, and is essential reading for all those working on the philosophy of mathematics.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

It is a great book. In demanding but always succinct prose, it presents a wealth of distinctions, insights, and arguments (Oystein Linnebo, Australasian Journal of Philosophy)

L'autore:

Kit Fine is Professor of Philosophy at New York University.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Clarendon Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0199246181
• ISBN 13: 9780199246182
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 216