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Mathematics is the most important subject.

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Try telling a girl that on a date...
Anyway yes you are right..in fact i'd go as far as to say the universe is a mathematical object itself.
Original post by SimonM
I don't really understand your point about philosophy. I know nothing of the subject either. (Although my opinion of it is tarnished by the fact that no-one can tell be anything remotely interesting which philosophers have discovered)


Sorry; my point was that maths is a language (which be used to describe stuff) but as you said, the language can also be used to derive things as well, so I was conceding to your point that maths is more than a language. My point about philosophy was that just as maths can describe what can be derived by it's axioms, a human language can be used to describe what has been, deduced from the axioms of philosophy (although nobody is quite sure what these are or if they exist at all), so ther are some parallels between the two.

For example:

Premise 1: The word of Jesus is absolutely true and infallable
Premise 2: Jesus said that we should vote for the labour party

So from this we can deduce that we should vote for the labour party, although it's only as valid as the axioms so I guess a philosopher can act like a mathematician provided he accepts a system of axioms before using a human language to describe these deductions.

So yeaaah, I'm a bit **** at explaining things :cry:
Reply 62
Original post by PendulumBoB
Sorry; my point was that maths is a language (which be used to describe stuff) but as you said, the language can also be used to derive things as well, so I was conceding to your point that maths is more than a language. My point about philosophy was that just as maths can describe what can be derived by it's axioms, a human language can be used to describe what has been, deduced from the axioms of philosophy (although nobody is quite sure what these are or if they exist at all), so ther are some parallels between the two.

For example:

Premise 1: The word of Jesus is absolutely true and infallable
Premise 2: Jesus said that we should vote for the labour party

So from this we can deduce that we should vote for the labour party, although it's only as valid as the axioms so I guess a philosopher can act like a mathematician provided he accepts a system of axioms before using a human language to describe these deductions.

So yeaaah, I'm a bit **** at explaining things :cry:


So if I'm getting this right: Philosophy might be like maths, and uses a branch of maths (logic) to say things.
Original post by Aphotic Cosmos
Geography is hard to explain to somebody with a dismissive view of it, but I'll try. I think the best way to describe a Geographer is as a compiler - we seek to not only understand the same systems that other disciplines do (geology, ecology, sociology, etc.) but put them together logically and try to explain how and why these systems may be linked, and what changes that may cause in each system. The goal is not only to understand physical and human systems and phenomena as, say, physicists and sociologists might respectively, but to understand how they are linked and how they affect each other to whatever end.

Oh, and we also seek to place these systems and relationships in a spatial context. Sounds like bull****, I know, but no explanation of geography would be complete without a reference to "spatiality".


From my experience it's hard to explain to most people. Wait link disciplines together.... I guess you're right, one reason people in LEDC's in general have low life expectancies is because many people live below the poverty line, so can't afford healthcare. That's not common sense/obvious at all, that's geography. How is geography of any use to anyone?
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 64
It is pretty important.
Original post by SimonM
So if I'm getting this right: Philosophy might be like maths, and uses a branch of maths (logic) to say things.


Pretty much and use human language to express these things.

Although some philosophers now use symbols P(x) etc); I guess you could argue that maths is a branch of philosophy in that it is based on axioms, although it seems to be far more useful than many other areas of the the discipline.
Reply 66
Original post by PendulumBoB
Pretty much and use human language to express these things.

Although some philosophers now use symbols P(x) etc); I guess you could argue that maths is a branch of philosophy in that it is based on axioms, although it seems to be far more useful than many other areas of the the discipline.


Kurt Godel used mathematical symbols to prove the existence of God.

Maths is beyond amazing, although it was a tough degree that nearly destroyed me as a person.
Original post by kandy666
Kurt Godel used mathematical symbols to prove the existence of God.

Maths is beyond amazing, although it was a tough degree that nearly destroyed me as a person.


How (I genuinely want to hear your answer I'm not be a dick)? I thought he proved that any system which can express truths about itself will always express a truth which cannot be proven.

Glad it only, "nearly" destroyed you :biggrin:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 68
Original post by PendulumBoB
How (I genuinely want to hear your answer I'm not be a dick)? I thought he proved that any system which can express truths about itself will always express a truth which cannot be proven.

Glad it only, "nearly" destroyed you :biggrin:


I'm going to do a masters, so maybe it'll finish me off. Heh. Can't live with maths, can't live without it.

Here is Godel's proof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_ontological_proof

Oh, and you were referring to his Incompleteness Theorem. The dude came up with more than one theorem!
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by kandy666
I'm going to do a masters, so maybe it'll finish me off. Heh. Can't live with maths, can't live without it.

Here is Godel's proof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_ontological_proof

Oh, and you were referring to his Incompleteness Theorem. The dude came up with more than one theorem!


That's awesome, out of interest which area are you most interested in (sorry to ask such a banal question you're probably been bombarded with too many times)?

But the superpostion of living with and without it? :getmecoat:

It was very interesting, but this sums up my opinion (but with less of Russell's trademark smugness :teehee:)

The argument does not, to a modern mind, seem very convincing, but it is easier to feel convinced that it must be fallacious than it is to find out precisely where the fallacy lies

I just can't put my finger on it :angry:

Also, to me it seems odd that Godel chose to be a Christian rather than a deist for the reason that Christianity (as with most religions) seems to be about faith rather than proof. Also what if there are loads of Gods?
only at the most basic level, higher than this is pointless unless your really brainy or somat
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by SimonM
So if I'm getting this right: Philosophy might be like maths, and uses a branch of maths (logic) to say things.


Mathematics is sometimes used to describe logic, but does this mean that all logic is mathematics? I don't think so (meant in a curious and not offensive way).

I think of mathematics as our way of describing the symmetry (in a much more general sense than right triangles and group theory) we perceive in the world, which would make something like retrosynthetic analysis within organic chemistry very mathematical even though there's no numbers or equations as far as the eye can see.

I am aware that my two paragraphs contradict each other, so feel free to help me make up my mind!
Reply 72
Original post by Abstractineum
Mathematics is sometimes used to describe logic, but does this mean that all logic is mathematics? I don't think so (meant in a curious and not offensive way).


Formal logic is a branch of mathematics. Care to give examples of other forms of logic which don't come under maths?

I think of mathematics as our way of describing the symmetry (in a much more general sense than right triangles and group theory) we perceive in the world, which would make something like retrosynthetic analysis within organic chemistry very mathematical even though there's no numbers or equations as far as the eye can see.


Sure, part of maths studies symmetry. (But that's not all of it).
My point is that logic exists independent on the mathematical description of it. I think (but may be wrong) that logic was studied in philosophy before mathematics.

What does mathematics study that isn't some kind of symmetry?

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