The nature of scientific philosophy. (English) Zbl 1478.00016
Summary: The goal of this paper is to explain the nature of philosophy as a distinct science with its own subject-matter. This is achieved through a comparative analysis of mathematical and philosophical knowledge that reveals a profound similarity between mathematics and philosophy as mutually complementary sciences exploring the field of abstract entities that can be comprehended only by purely a priori theoretical inquiry. By considering this complementarity, a general definition of philosophy can be obtained by dualizing the traditional Aristotelian definition of mathematics as the “science of quantity”. Philosophy should thus be interpreted as an a priori science of the pure qualitative attributes of being.
MSC:
| 00A30 | Philosophy of mathematics |
| 03A05 | Philosophical and critical aspects of logic and foundations |
| 03A10 | Logic in the philosophy of science |
Keywords:
science; philosophy; mathematics; a priori knowledge; principle of duality; quantity; qualityReferences:
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