(urth) barrington interview

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

Antonio, as a Catholic I simply can't accept it because I believe there is
such thing as an absolute truth. Logic plays a part in this, and
mathematics (which is independent of any particular notion of "number")
falls directly out of logic.

On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 11:13 AM, António Marques <entonio at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 10 October 2014 18:05, Jeffery Wilson clueland.com <
> jwilson at clueland.com> wrote:
>
>> On 10/10/2014 8:09 AM, Lee wrote:
>>
>>> Gerry Quinn: All mathematics can be encoded entirely inside the standard
>>>> arithmetic
>>>>
>>>
>>>  of the natural numbers, or simple geometry on a plane.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> A nice summation of my point. Math requires numbers. Numbers describe the
>>>
>>> universe in terms of discrete, countable units. I find it quite possible
>>> that there
>>>
>>> are places/times in geography and history of the universe in which the
>>> concept of
>>>
>>> numbers was meaningless.
>>>
>>
>> Er, no, because the concept does not depend on the actuality. The numbers
>> necessary for math can be entirely notional, and in fact the numbers are
>> *always* notional and abstract. There is no place you can touch the number
>> two, for instance.
>>
>
> It's not a matter of the concept not depending on the actuality. It's a
> matter of what you call 'concept' being how the human mind responds to
> actuality. Other minds might respond to the same actuality with different
> concepts. We've been saying this for days and folks still come back with
> misdirected replies. (Lee has also been making the additional point that
> this mind wouldn't necessarily have evolved without this actuality.)
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
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