The Quine–Putnam indispensability argument, also known simply as the indispensability argument, is an argument in the philosophy of mathematics for the existence of abstract mathematical objects such as numbers and sets, a position known as mathematical platonism. Named after the philosophers Willard Quine and Hilary Putnam, it is one of the most important arguments in the philosophy of mathematics and is widely considered to be one of the best arguments for platonism.