2 thoughts on “My Head Hurts Because of Math: Philosophical Paradox Edition

  1. Just came across this while looking for more of your class’s discussions (my lack of tech-savviness has never been more keenly felt than now – where’s my Atari when I need it?).
    Wish I got to hear it presented. The diagram of a line showing philosophy to math to engineering struck me – I wonder what Ms. McArthur’s thoughts on that diagram are? Hopefully we’ll get to ask her. I’m sure she has an interesting thought or two about it.
    I’d like to say I’m impressed with the care, thought and effort you’ve put into this. You clearly have a keen mind for these connections, a creative and active investigative mind at that. It becomes like detective work on a certain level, doesn’t it?
    Hopefully it will be common, soon, for math and philosophy to team up again regularly in high schools and universities. I have a feeling you’d be just the right person to study it and teach it in the future…

    • Firstly, as one of our schools Tech Team members, I can definitely help you with your computer-savviness. It’s technically my job (see what I did there?)
      My presentation was more or less the same as my script, just with a bit more rambling, mostly nerve induced. I’d be happy to discuss my points with you, however.
      I found the diagram while searching for “philosophy vs mathematics”, and it was in “photos like this” folder after a couple xkcd comics (I love xkcd – if you haven’t already, you should check out the site. Lots of questions, lots of answers, lots of humour. He also explains all his comics, and he wrote a book called “what if”, which is basically everything I’ve ever needed in life and more).
      Thank you so much for your kind words! I’m a naturally curious individual. If there has ever been such a thing as “too many questions”, I have definitely reached that point. (My parents don’t have anymore patience for my hypothetical questions – I think by the time I was asking “how would I be able to throw this jar through a wall without breaking it?”, they gave up on any hopes of me having a “normal” career path.)
      And I love detective work, anyway. I read a lot of Nancy Drew as a kid, and I tried my hand at detective skills, however, there is a distinct lack of mysteries on my elementary school playground.
      I really would like math and philosophy to be integrated more in schools, especially when building up inquisitive and critically, creatively thinking youth. I probably shouldn’t say this on my math homework, but I find traditional math curriculum supremely boring. I don’t really care about angles and polynomials – I see how they can be used, but I don’t care too much.
      Thank you so much for the kind words! I would love to study math and philosophical relations, but I would also love to study a plethora of other things. Is there such a career as “researcher of absolutely everything”?

      Thank you so much for inspiring these mathematically philosophical discussions. I really enjoyed them, and you really are a great teacher. I hope to see you back at Riverside soon!

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