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Mathematical objects and the object of theology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2016

VICTORIA S. HARRISON
VICTORIA S. HARRISON*
Affiliation:
Philosophy and Religious Studies Program, Room 4101a, Humanities and Social Sciences Building (E21), University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China
*
e-mail: vharrison@umac.mo
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Abstract

This article brings mathematical realism and theological realism into conversation. It outlines a realist ontology that characterizes abstract mathematical objects as inaccessible to the senses, non-spatiotemporal, and acausal. Mathematical realists are challenged to explain how we can know such objects. The article reviews some promising responses to this challenge before considering the view that the object of theology also possesses the three characteristic features of abstract objects, and consequently may be known through the same methods that yield knowledge of mathematical objects.

Type
Articles
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 479 - 496
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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