What are the objects of science? Are they just the spatiotemporal things? Or does science also require non-spatiotemporal things? Are the objects of science discovered or created? And what are the implications for ethics and aesthetics?
These are just some of the questions that Scott Berman explores in Platonism and the Objects of Science, in which he argues that a Platonic explanation of these objects is the most convincing one. Arguing that other theories which attempt to explain the nature of being - including Nominalism, Contemporary Aristotelianism, Constructivism, and Classical Aristotelianism - fall short of a Platonist explanation, Berman demonstrates how according to a Platonic conception of existence, non-spatiotemporal things constitute the best objects for understanding the spatiotemporal things. Using a contemporary Platonic approach to these issues allows us to understand in the best way what material objects are, what laws of nature are, what possibilities are, and what truths are.
Written in a clear and jargon-free style, Platonism and the Objects of Science will be suitable for those interested in Platonic theory, metaphysics, and contemporary philosophical thought.
