The development of philosophy of mathematics can be traced back to ancient Greece. Philosophers' research and application of mathematics provided rich materials for philosophical thinking. It is generally believed that the Pythagorean school is the earliest example of applying mathematics to the philosophical system. They believe that mathematics is the key to understanding everything, and it is a perfect expression to reduce the phenomena in the universe and life into mathematical formulas.

In the middle ages, the attitude of the Christian church towards mathematics changed greatly. Because the church believes that geometry is related to religious beliefs, it is forbidden to teach geometry. However, in the Renaissance, humanists rediscovered geometry and regarded it as a pure science.

Since modern times, philosophy of mathematics has changed from focusing on basic problems to focusing on application problems. At the beginning of the 20th century, logicism and formalism became the mainstream thoughts. Since the mid-20th century, axiomatic methods, model theory and symbolic computation have become the mainstream.