Reddit mentions of What Is Mathematics, Really?

What Is Mathematics, Really?

>Most philosophers of mathematics treat it as isolated, timeless, ahistorical, inhuman. Reuben Hersh argues the contrary, that mathematics must be understood as a human activity, a social phenomenon, part of human culture, historically evolved, and intelligible only in a social context. ... At the heart of his book is a fascinating historical account of the mainstream of philosophy--ranging from Pythagoras, Descartes, and Spinoza, to Bertrand Russell, David Hilbert, and Rudolph Carnap--followed by the mavericks who saw mathematics as a human artifact, including Aristotle, Locke, Hume, Mill, and Lakatos.

> The foundation of reality. [...] not literal, it was meant philosophically

Three hundred years ago, that was philosophical. Now, at best you could call it poetry. Good philosophy requires us to be clear in our claims and their meaning. We have the means to better articulate such things now.

Edit: btw, if you're interested in getting into this topic in a little more depth, check out Reuben Hersh's book "What is Mathematics, Really?" It's sympathetic to the kinds of ideas you're raising, but it also gets into much more depth and points out the problems with them.