In the modern era the philosophy of science is largely done by scientists who work on the cutting edge of science. Their speculations are the creative...
OK, back unexpectedly quickly. What little I know of SOL is that it applies to set theory, and foundations wallows in that mire. I suspect if one want...
Really? You must be a mathematician like I was. And one working in functional analysis. I have perhaps four books that speak of Hilbert spaces in cert...
Me too. 87 here. I taught at a state university for thirty years. These institutions are undervalued in an era in which media focuses on Harvard and o...
As a retired math person I can see the possibility of the mathematics of Quantum theory somehow reifying into a form of reality. However, I suspect no...
Indeed, I came upon it a bit later, in the late 1950s, and it became popular among young, adventurous men - particularly from California - looking for...
There are those on the Forum who think of "truth" as a relative concept. As a retired mathematician, I know mathematical truth is dependent upon certa...
I'm not as concerned with Trump winning the election as I am with him losing the vote count. He has been busy keeping his MAGA base stirred up, and if...
Sartre's The Gaze and The Look are interesting additions to his fundamental idea of creating meaning in one's life. I suspect every athlete who moves ...
If I see references to God, or when an OP is very lengthy and rambling I usually lose interest very quickly. That's just me. As for thinking and solvi...
Alex Honnold ("Greatest athletic feat of all time") and scientists pull their sleds over the Greenland ice cap in a recent Nat'l Geo offering. I wasn'...
Math is not a science, of course, but it is very much a social activity. In general, if one states a proposition one needs to convince others of its v...
Of course compassion and caring solve many problems, but not all. Clearly not all. For example, in the event of a plague compassion and caring helps e...
You chose a profession that is unbelievably competitive. I would suggest you try to find an unexplored niche in that community, one that fits your tal...
The answer to this question resonates on this thread. Of what value is a philosophical idea if it does not change lives? Or does philosophy as an appr...
Many years ago - the late 1950s - as a young man I read Sartre at a time I was looking for a meaningful life. I came away with a very simplistic idea ...
I have adequate knowledge of two areas of thought and/or practice: mathematics and rock climbing. Yesterday I asked ChatGPT about a close friend of mi...
A farewell to one of the few military veterans on the site, as if that means anything on a philosophy forum. But Wittgenstein was a military hero. Did...
Possibly. But I suspect from observations over time that, for example, women seem to have an ability to categorize and perceive relationships that cor...
From ChatGPT 3.5: Maybe this will get the thread back on original tract. Thanks for your comments. I agree that Hilbert spaces are useful for the mani...
This has been my take on mathematics. Once certain definitions and processes are settled, all that logically flows from them does, in a sense, exist. ...
I think of Newton, developing calculus to describe physical phenomena. And perhaps some math is created in this fashion today. But by and large it's n...
Is mathematics non-existent? Some might say yes. It's certainly non-physical. But cause and effect run thorough it like an intellectual river. In a ty...
No, math is not embedded in the universe. There are structures and patterns we recognize and attempt to describe using mathematics, which we initially...
No problem. If it makes sense to you, that's OK. Mathematicians don't have to agree with you. It's not like the fate of the world hinges upon this. It...
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