Numbers as Cognitive Tools

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Numbers as Cognitive Tools

An Empirically Informed Nominalistic Account of the Nature of Numbers

Child, developmental and lifespan psychology Cognition and cognitive psychology Teaching of a specific subject Mathematics Philosophy of mathematics Analytical philosophy and Logical Positivism

Author: Cesar Frederico dos Santos

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Collection: Synthese Library

Language: English

Published by: Springer

Published on: 18th July 2025

Format: LCP-protected ePub

ISBN: 9783031984273


Book Overview

This book offers a novel account of the nature of numbers firmly grounded in results from numerical cognition and the philosophy of mathematics.

Drawing on empirical data on the human experience of what we call "numbers", the author shows that numbers do not exist as abstract objects, but that the idea that they do is a useful cognitive tool.

Contrary to the platonist view, according to which arithmetic is true of a realm of abstract entities, the nominalistic account presented in this book shows arithmetic to be true of descriptions of structural properties of techniques such as counting and calculating procedures.

This book is of interest to both philosophers and cognitive scientists who want to have a deeper understanding of what numbers are.

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