Mathematical Access through Evolutionary Convergence

Naturalism and mathematical realism are often regarded as difficult to reconcile because naturally produced cognitive capacities seem to lack a clear route to mathematical reality. In this paper, I first strip the classical formulation of this problem of stronger metaphysical and epistemological assumptions that are not required by the explanandum itself. I then propose a naturalistic account in which mathematically regular features of the causally accessible universe provide an indirect route to mathematical reality. Evolution can favour cognitive capacities responsive to these regularities for practical reasons, without selecting for mathematical truth as such. Once a sufficiently rich cognitive kernel has emerged, abstraction, formalisation, proof, and cultural accumulation can extend mathematical activity beyond what is directly encountered in the environment. The proposal does not presuppose any particular mathematical ontology and does not require human mathematics to reproduce mathematical reality transparently or exhaustively.