Abstract

In this paper we put a thesis that it is possible to perceive mathematics as a science of structures, where the difference between structure as the object of study and theory as something which describes this object is blurred. We discusses the view of set-theoretical structuralism with a special emphasis placed on a certain gradual development of set theory as a formal theory. We proposes a certain view concerning the methodology of formal sciences, which is an attempt at describing precisely and capturing in a scheme the ways of development of deductive sciences in general, set theory including. We show that the standpoint of sui generis structuralism has some features characteristic of purely formal theory.