Scotistic Structures

Abstract

This essay ties together two strands of Peircean exegesis: Hookway’s suggestion that Peirce’s mathematical ontology is akin to contemporary structuralism, and the interpretation of his realism as a transmogrified Scotism. I show how Peirce’s critical appropriation of scholastic realism plays out in his fragmentary but highly suggestive remarks on the nature of mathematical objects. Though much reconstruction is required, I argue that these remarks point clearly towards a version of mathematical realism(and structuralism) that is tightly integrated into the larger framework of Peirce’s mature realism.