The aim of the present paper is to offer a new analysis of the multifarious relations between mathematics and reality. We believe that the relation of mathematics to reality is, just like in the case of the natural sciences, mediated by instruments (such as algebraic symbolism, or ruler and compass). Therefore the kind of realism we aim to develop for mathematics can be called instrumental realism. It is a kind of realism, because it is based on the thesis, that mathematics describes certain patterns of reality. And it is instrumental realism, because it pays atten-tion to the role of instruments by means of which mathematics identifies these patterns. The article concludes by offering solutions to some famous semantic paradoxes based on the diagonal construction as corroboration for this claim.