Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On Thought Experiments, Theology, and Mathematical Platonism

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Axiomathes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In our contribution to this special issue on thought experiments and mathematics, we aim to insert theology into the conversation. There is a very long tradition of substantial inquiries into the relationship between theology and mathematics. Platonism has been provoking a consolidation of that tradition to some extent in recent decades. Accordingly, in this paper we look at James R. Brown’s Platonic account of thought experiments. Ultimately, we offer an analysis of some of the merits and perils inherent in framing the use of thought experiments in mathematics and theology in terms of Platonism.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Atkins P (2018) Conjuring the universe: the origins of the laws of nature. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Benzmüller C (2019) What is a proof? What should it be? https://arxiv.org/abs/1904.06332.

  • Berger P (2014) The many altars of modernity: toward a paradigm for religion in a pluralist age. De Gruyter, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brooke JH (1991) Science and religion: some historical perspectives. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR (1986) Thought experiments since the scientific revolution. Int Stud Philos Sci 1:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR (2008) Philosophy of mathematics: a contemporary introduction to the world of proofs and pictures, 2nd edn. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR (2011a) The laboratory of the mind: thought experiments in the natural sciences, 2nd edn. Routledge, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR (2011b) Swinburne on God and simplicity. Jahrbuch Für Religionsphilosophie 10:195–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Davies P (1992) The mind of God. Penguin, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fehige Y (ed) (2016) Science and religion: East and West. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fehige Y (2018) Thought experiments and theology. In: Stuart MT et al (eds) The Routledge companion to thought experiments. Routledge, New York, pp 183–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Fehige Y (2021) The Annus mirabilis of 1986: thought experiments and scientific pluralism. HOPOS J Int Soc Hist Philos Sci 11:222–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaunilo (1926) On behalf of the fool. In: Anselm of Canterbury. Proslogium; monologium: an appendix in behalf of the fool by Gaunilo; and Cur Deus Homo, 2nd edn (trans: Deane SN). The Open Court, Chicago

  • Gingras Y (2017) Science and religion: an impossible dialogue (trans: Keating P). Polity Press

  • Habermas J (2019) Auch eine Geschichte der Philosophie, 2 Bände. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main

  • Harrison VS (2017) Mathematical objects and the object of theology. Relig Stud 53:479–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos I (1978) What does a mathematical proof prove? In: Worrall J, Currie G (eds) Philosophical papers, vol. 2: mathematics, science and epistemology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 61–69

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Leibniz GW (1875–1890) Die philosophischen Schriften, Gerhardt CJ (ed). Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin (references indicate volume and pages)

  • Leibniz GW (1923) Sämtliche Schriften und Briefe. Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (references indicate volume, issue, number of the work, and pages)

  • Meixner U (2000) On some realisms most realists don’t like. Metaphysica 1:73–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholas of Cusa (1932) Opera omnia vol. 19: De docta ignorantia. In: Hoffmann E, Klibansky R (eds). Meiner, Lipsia

  • Oppenheimer PE, Zalta EN (1991) On the logic of the ontological argument. In: Tomberlin J (ed) Philosophical perspectives 5: the philosophy of religion. Ridgeview, Atascadero, pp 509–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer PE, Zalta EN (2011) A computationally-discovered simplification of the ontological argument. Australas J Philos 89(2):333–349

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppy G (1995) Ontological arguments and belief in God. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Schellenberg J (2009) Philosophy of religion: a state of the subject report. Tor J Theol 25:95–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Swinburne R (2010) God as the simplest explanation of the universe. Eur J Philos Relig 1:1–24

    Google Scholar 

  • van Fraassen B (1980) The scientific image. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Yiftach Fehige

  2. University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

    Andrea Vestrucci

Authors
  1. Yiftach Fehige
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrea Vestrucci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yiftach Fehige.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fehige, Y., Vestrucci, A. On Thought Experiments, Theology, and Mathematical Platonism. Axiomathes 32 (Suppl 1), 43–54 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-022-09627-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-022-09627-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation