First published Tue Sep 25, 2007; substantive revision Tue Sep 26, 2017
If mathematics is regarded as a science, then the philosophy of
mathematics can be regarded as a branch of the philosophy of science,
next to disciplines such as the philosophy of physics and the
philosophy of biology. However, because of its subject matter, the
philosophy of mathematics occupies a special place in the philosophy
of science. Whereas the natural sciences investigate entities that are
located in space and time, it is not at all obvious that this also the
case of the objects that are studied in mathematics. In addition to
that, the methods of investigation of mathematics differ markedly from
A WESTBURY man braved sub-zero temperatures today to swim across the town s Eden Vale Lake in memory of his father who died in August. Charles Parsons, 31, recreated a swim made by his late father Ray Parsons who swam across the lake on Boxing Day in 1979. Mr Parsons, of Devon Drive, said afterwards: That was freezing. It was really, really cold. My legs are dead. I can t feel my feet. It was a lot colder than I thought. I really struggled on the way back. He was watched by a crowd of around 30 family and friends, including his partner Maria Frayling, 28, his elder brother auction Sasha, his mother, Susan McQuoid-Patey, and his aunt Margaret Parsons.