PROOFS AND ARGUMENTS THE SPECIAL CASE OF MATHEMATICS

Most philosophers still tend to believe that mathematics is basically about producing formal proofs. A consequence of this view is that some aspects of mathematical practice are lost out of view entirely. As I will defend, it is precisely in those aspects that similarities can be found between practices in the exact sciences and in mathematics. Hence, if we are looking for a (more) unified treatment of science and mathematics, it is necessary to incorporate these elements into our view of what mathematics is about. As a helpful tool I will introduce the notion of a mathematical argument as a more liberalized version of the notion of mathematical proof