Polish Journal of Philosophy

Volume 5, Issue 2, Fall 2011

Indispensability, the Testing of Mathematical Theories, and Provisional Realism

Mathematical concepts are explications, in Carnap’s sense, of vague or otherwise unclear concepts; mathematical theories have an empirical and a deductive component. From this perspective, I argue that the empirical component of a mathematical theory may be tested together with the fruitfulness of its explications. Using these ideas, I furthermore give an argument for mathematical realism, based on the indispensability argument combined with a weakened version of confirmational holism