| Alexander Pasea | |
| Region: | Western philosophy |
| Era: | 21st-century philosophy |
| Birth Name: | Alexander Christopher Paseau |
| Institutions: | University of Oxford |
| Education: | Cambridge University (PhD, BA), Oxford University (BPhil), Princeton University |
Alexander Christopher Paseau is a British philosopher of Greek and Belgian origin. He is Professor of Mathematical Philosophy at the University of Oxford and the Stuart Hampshire Fellow at Wadham College.[1] He specializes in the philosophy of logic, the philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of religion, and has made many well-known contributions to these fields.[2]
He has been an Associate Editor of the journal Mind and has held Research Fellowships from the Mind Association and the Leverhulme Trust.[3]
Paseau subscribes to a broadly realist conception of mathematical truth, stating in an interview that "mathematical truth is not tensed. Mathematicians discover mathematical truths; they don’t make them up".[4] In the same interview, Paseau also maintains that "inductive reasoning is crucial for mathematical knowledge" and that "we can know a mathematical truth without ever having proved it".
Paseau also works on the subtraction argument for metaphysical nihilism. Paseau's view is discussed and defended by Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra in "The Subtraction Arguments for Metaphysical Nihilism: Compared and Defended".[5]