Avicenna on the Nature of Mathematical Objects

Dialogue 55 (3):511-536 (2016)
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Abstract

Some authors have proposed that Avicenna considers mathematical objects, i.e., geometric shapes and numbers, to be mental existents completely separated from matter. In this paper, I will show that this description, though not completely wrong, is misleading. Avicenna endorses, I will argue, some sort of literalism, potentialism, and finitism.

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Mohammad Saleh Zarepour
University of Manchester

Citations of this work

Avicenna on Mathematical Infinity.Mohammad Saleh Zarepour - 2020 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 102 (3):379-425.

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References found in this work

Summary of "Elements of Mind" and Replies to Critics.Tim Crane - 2004 - Croatian Journal of Philosophy 4 (11):223-240.
Aristotle’s Philosophy of Mathematics.Jonathan Lear - 1982 - Philosophical Review 91 (2):161-192.
Aristotle on Mathematical Truth.Phil Corkum - 2012 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 20 (6):1057-1076.
Aristotle on Geometrical Objects.Ian Mueller - 1970 - Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie 52 (2):156-171.

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