Re: Math as Religion


"Stephen Montgomery-Smith" <stephen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:nvu4h.1056171$084.954191@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Timothy Golden BandTechnology.com wrote:
Mathematics is not a religion is it?
Why people adopt the religious attitude is baffling.
By challenging the fundamentals that have been layed down a type of
progress can be made that far rivals the usual progression of adding a
branch to a branch of the tree.
This is a statement on the human mind. The mathematician is most immune
to emotional argumentation, yet to claim an inadequacy at the base of
the tree hurts badly and well it should, for if the inadequacy is a
reality then all of the mathematicians who have been hoodwinked have
suffered from the social instinct of mimicry. The mathematician who
claims immunity will have to accept this lower accusation and therefor
should remain open to such possibilities.

Such possibilities have to be met with clear criticism from the
defenders of the existing tree.
The ease with which you do so is a measure of your own abilities.
If the truth is so clear cut there should be no problem arriving at it
with honest discussion.
Otherwise your math is just a religion:

The book has been written.
One must preserve the book.

-Tim


Hi Tim,

I actually think that you make a very valid point. I also have argued
these kinds of positions. I think that there is only so much depth to the
foundations of mathematics, and that ultimately its basis cannot be
proved.

I do accept mathematics as truth, but I also accept that my position is
ultimately an act of faith. In other words, I disagree with you that
mathematics is at heart mere mimicry, but I concede that I have no
foolproof argument against your assertion. The best argument that I can
come up with is that the rules of mathematics seem to be universally
accepted by all humans, even across cultures, and that a mathematical
argument has that "ring of truth" about it that sits comfortably with my
soul.

I see that this is your view of Maths or math
http://www.math.missouri.edu/~stephen/mathematics.html

You are an applied mathematician - but you can hardly expect that of a pure
mathematician.

But your argument is totally utilitarian. One can imagine telling that to an
engineer but how would mathematics attract the brightest of students if it
was just simply a faith.

I believe that in Soviet Russia many people chose to study mathematics and
other pure sciences for the reason that it allowed them to think
independently - I hardly imagine that they would have done that if they were
simply following an orthodoxy.

Nick


.

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