Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1983
Abstract
This paper addresses the growing popularity of views of mathematics that see it primarily as a social entity and that reject Platonism. It contrasts two Christian realist philosophies - those of Alvin Plantinga and Vernon Poythress - with the secular perspective of Philip Davis and Reuben Hersch. It affirms the insight of Davis and Hersch that mathematics is indeed a social entity. However, it argues that belief in God enables a fuller understanding of mathematics - one that accounts for the apparent transcendence of mathematics and its power to explain concepts in the physical world.
Recommended Citation
Zwier, Paul, "A Comparative Study of Christian Mathematical Realism and its Humanistic Alternatives" (1983). ACMS Journal 2004. 18.
https://pillars.taylor.edu/acmsjournal-2004/18
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