This is what our group thought about the question “Are there any absolute truths in math?”
One thought on “Philosophy and Math”
Interesting start that you have with humans inventing Math in order to make sense of the unknown they are surrounded with. I’m curious how you’ve connected infinity to this. I’d like to hear your group discuss more about these two ideas before moving on.
Your group has also mentioned that humans have a desire to find answers, and Math is one of the ways of providing those answers. This makes it very goal-oriented. It also means it has been built up over time. David Hume has a good thought experiment about this: how would Adam (according to the Bible, the first man on Earth) react to seeing two pool balls rolling toward each other? For Adam, this has never happened before, so he has no way knowing if the two balls will explode, fall in to each other, create a tree – literally anything is possible because of his lack of experience. We know the two will bounce off each other, but that comes simply from experience. So the question your group seems to be looking at is this: is Math just a description of our experiences? Your example one plus one is always two touches on this because that is descriptive of our environment. If relies on our knowledge of patterns, and how things fit together, then it can’t be fully objective, or “absolutely true.” We use it, as your group puts it, to provide closure for our experiences as they are happening. I think this idea of Math as “closure” and reassurance is a key part of human nature that you bring up.
I really like the idea you bring up of labelling and adding language to Math. This connects above to the idea of Math as description. Again, maybe more next time, so everyone has a chance to discuss it.
Thanks for sharing it!
Interesting start that you have with humans inventing Math in order to make sense of the unknown they are surrounded with. I’m curious how you’ve connected infinity to this. I’d like to hear your group discuss more about these two ideas before moving on.
Your group has also mentioned that humans have a desire to find answers, and Math is one of the ways of providing those answers. This makes it very goal-oriented. It also means it has been built up over time. David Hume has a good thought experiment about this: how would Adam (according to the Bible, the first man on Earth) react to seeing two pool balls rolling toward each other? For Adam, this has never happened before, so he has no way knowing if the two balls will explode, fall in to each other, create a tree – literally anything is possible because of his lack of experience. We know the two will bounce off each other, but that comes simply from experience. So the question your group seems to be looking at is this: is Math just a description of our experiences? Your example one plus one is always two touches on this because that is descriptive of our environment. If relies on our knowledge of patterns, and how things fit together, then it can’t be fully objective, or “absolutely true.” We use it, as your group puts it, to provide closure for our experiences as they are happening. I think this idea of Math as “closure” and reassurance is a key part of human nature that you bring up.
I really like the idea you bring up of labelling and adding language to Math. This connects above to the idea of Math as description. Again, maybe more next time, so everyone has a chance to discuss it.
Thanks for sharing it!