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Science

Mathematical Platonism

Our philosophical science correspondent Massimo Pigliucci takes a dose of it.

I’m a scientist by original training, so I tend not to believe in anything that isn’t made of either matter or energy (which are two sides of the same coin, of course). When I went back to graduate school to get my degree in philosophy, I took a course on Plato. I enjoyed the dialogues, especially the often sardonic figure of Socrates. I also appreciated Plato’s famous metaphor of the Cave. His vision of humanity shackled in the semi-darkness, getting a glimpse of the world as it really is only through indistinct shadows projected on the walls, easily captures the imagination.

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