 If there are indeed no mathematical (fictional) entities, as one form of fictionalism has it, then Benacerraf’s epistemological problem does not arise. Fictionalism then shares this advantage over most forms of platonism with nominalistic reconstructions of mathematics. But the appeal to pretence operators entails that the logical form of mathematical sentences then differs somewhat from their surface form. If there are fictional objects, then the surface form of mathematical sentences can be taken to coincide with their logical form. But if they exist as abstract entities, then Benacerraf’s epistemological problem reappears.