The values described above lead to the identification of mathematics with its
formal representations (on the syntactical level). This is an identification which is
made both by mathematicians, and philosophers of mathematics (at least those
endorsing the absolutist philosophies). The valuing of abstraction in mathematics may
also partly explain why mathematics is objectified. For the values emphasize the pure
forms and rules of mathematics, facilitating their objectification and reification, as
Davis (1974) suggests.4
This valuation allows the objectified concepts and rules of
mathematics to be depersonalized and reformulated with little concerns of ownership,
unlike literary creations. Such changes are subject to strict and general mathematical
rules and values, which are a part of the mathematical culture. This has the result of
offsetting some of the effects of sectional interests exercised by those with power in
the community of mathematicians. However, this in no way threatens the status of the
most powerful mathematicians. For the objective rules of acceptable knowledge serve
to legitimate the position of the elite in the mathematical community.