How are Mathematical Objects Constituted? A Structuralist Answer
| Abstract | The paper proposes to amend structuralism in mathematics by saying what places in a structure and thus mathematical objects are. They are the objects of the canonical system realizing a categorical structure, where that canonical system is a minimal system in a specific essentialistic sense. It would thus be a basic ontological axiom that such a canonical system always exists. This way of conceiving mathematical objects is underscored by a defense of an essentialistic version of Leibniz principle according to which each object is uniquely characterized by its proper and possibly relational essence (where proper means not referring to identity"). | |||||||||
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