Science Without Numbers: A Defence of Nominalism
Language: English
Published by Princeton University Press, 1980
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Mesquite Booksellers, Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.Mesquite Booksellers
AbeBooks seller since December 4, 2025
Condition: Used - Very good
£ 62.28
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
xiv,130. 324 grams. 5.75 x 8.75 x .625 inches. Dust at the top edge. Prior owner neatly wrote his name in ink on the flyleaf. Jacket shows light to mild ordinary shelfwear but remains strong and fully intact. Book shows some rubbing at the bottom corners and the tail of the spine. The spine is slightly cocked, but remains tight with sound binding. Pages are crisp and entirely unmarked. Boards straight, corners sharp. Bound in black cloth, with stamped gold lettering to the spine. If you order this from outside the United States, we will almost certainly request an additional payment to help cover the postage. Please feel welcome to message us with any questions, or a request for photographs. Every order includes tracking and is wrapped and robustly packaged with care in Tucson, AZ. ~Mesquite Booksellers.
Seller Inventory # 75669
- Title
- Science Without Numbers: A Defence of Nominalism
- Author
- Hartry H. Field
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Publication year
- 1980
- Condition
- Very good
- Dust jacket
- Very Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0691072604
- ISBN 13
- 9780691072609
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Item weight
- 324 grams
- Dimensions
- 5.75 inches width by 8.75 inches height by 0.625 inches depth
- Seller catalogs
- Philosophy, Science
According to the doctrine of nominalism, abstract entities―such as numbers, functions, and sets―do not exist. The problem this normally poses for a description of the physical world is as follows: any such description must include a physical theory, physical theories are assumed to require mathematics, and mathematics is replete with references to abstract entities. How, then, can nominalism reasonably be maintained? In answer, Hartry Field shows how abstract entities ultimately are dispensable in describing the physical world and that, indeed, we can "do science without numbers."
The author also argues that despite the ultimate dispensability of mathematical entities, mathematics remains useful, and that its usefulness can be explained by the nominalist. The explanation of the utility of mathematics does not presuppose that mathematics is true, but only that it is consistent. The argument that the nominalist can freely use mathematics in certain contexts without assuming it to be true appears early on, and it first seems to license only a quite limited use of mathematics. But when combined with the later argument that abstract entities ultimately are dispensable in physical theories, the conclusion emerges that even the most sophisticated applications of mathematics depend only on the assumption that mathematics is consistent and not on the assumption that it is true.
Originally published in 2050.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Mesquite Booksellers
Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since December 4, 2025
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History, philosophy and the social sciences. Most titles are academic press.Seller's business information
Mesquite Booksellers
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