Is it necessary to be good at maths to study philosophy?

I have applied for a degree whereby philosophy is likely to be a major component, and I am interested in doing a PhD in a philosophical area as well. However, I'm totally useless at maths.

I've noticed that historically, many philosophers were also mathematicians, and I've seen multiple people recommend maths/further maths as good A Levels to take in preparation for a philosophy degree.

Is it necessary to be a good mathematician in order to be a good philosopher?

Not at all.

OP

Original post by RamocitoMorales

Not at all.

Care to expand? Do you study philosophy?

Reply 3

BioStudentx

16

I never thought you had to be good at anything really to study philosophy - I had a friend who smoked **** tons of weed and ended up doing philosophy at Cambridge haha. Maybe i'm just ignorant as hell :frown:

?

Reply 4

RamocitoMorales

21

Original post by la95

Care to expand? Do you study philosophy?

I'm a mathematics student who took modules in undergraduate philosophy. There are certain fields of philosophy which are 'mathematical' in nature, such as logic, but generally it's just essay writing.

Reply 5

Tabstercat

14

No. I got a C in maths and study Philosophy at a Russell Group University. Most of the Logic and mathematical areas of philosophy are not compulsory. Worst case scenario you might have to take one compulsory Logic module in your first year, which will be very basic and you should still be able pass it with some work.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 6

Juichiro

18

Original post by RamocitoMorales

I'm a mathematics student who took modules in undergraduate philosophy. There are certain fields of philosophy which are 'mathematical' in nature, such as logic, but generally it's just essay writing.

Err. what? Logic is a mathematical discipline. The only reason it is tied to philosophy is become its founder was a philosopher (when philosophy was also synonymous with science) and because it allows you to formalise some thoughts. -_-

Reply 7

Tabstercat

14

Original post by Juichiro

Err. what? Logic is a mathematical discipline. The only reason it is tied to philosophy is become its founder was a philosopher (when philosophy was also synonymous with science) and because it allows you to formalise some thoughts. -_-

Err what? Logic is about how to construct a valid argument, which is the basis of philosophical thought.

Reply 8

miser

20

For the most part, I don't think an aptitude for maths is required at all, except that there might be some overlapping skills, such as thinking carefully.

I'm not very good at maths really - particularly arithmetic - but I've always enjoyed and felt comfortable reading and debating philosophy.

Reply 9

Kvothe the Arcane

20

I wouldn't have thought so. But I suppose logic would be a common skill.

Reply 10

RamocitoMorales

21

Original post by Juichiro

Err. what? Logic is a mathematical discipline. The only reason it is tied to philosophy is become its founder was a philosopher (when philosophy was also synonymous with science) and because it allows you to formalise some thoughts. -_-

Yes, there is an overlap between mathematics and philosophy. The same can be said of mathematics and physics. The experimentation that is done in physics is certainly not 'mathematics', but the theoretical side is more or less applied mathematics. In the same manner, the branches of philosophy which deal with ethics and moral philosophy have nothing to do with mathematics yet, as already mentioned, there are branches which are mathematical.

Reply 11

TheTruthTeller

18

Yes for example you must use mathematical concepts. Plato said 2+2=5 , therefore you must be able to argue against it mathematically and philosphically.

Reply 12

somethingbeautiful

18

Original post by BioStudentx

I never thought you had to be good at anything really to study philosophy - I had a friend who smoked **** tons of weed and ended up doing philosophy at Cambridge haha. Maybe i'm just ignorant as hell :frown:

?

You are.

OP. For the most part, you won't need any mathematical knowledge but if part of your philosophy course involves Logic or Philosophy of Maths, then an understanding of Maths is required.

For those ignorant wisecracks who think Philosophy is all about lounging around, smoking weed and nonchalantly asking why a chair is a chair and not a dog, take a look:

http://www.philosophy-index.com/logic/symbolic/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-modal/

There are so many branches of Philosophy. Logic will require a grasp of Mathematics.

Original post by keromedic

I wouldn't have thought so. But I suppose logic would be a common skill.

Your layman's definition of logic is not the same as a Philosophy student's definition. So many people get that wrong. See either of the links above - would you say that was a 'common skill'?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 13

Kvothe the Arcane

20

Original post by somethingbeautiful

You are.

OP. For the most part, you won't need any mathematical knowledge but if part of your philosophy course involves Logic or Philosophy of Maths, then an understanding of Maths is required.

For those ignorant wisecracks who think Philosophy is all about lounging around, smoking weed and nonchalantly asking why a chair is a chair and not a dog, take a look:

http://www.philosophy-index.com/logic/symbolic/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-modal/

There are so many branches of Philosophy. Logic will require a grasp of Mathematics.

Your layman's definition of logic is not the same as a Philosophy student's definition. So many people get that wrong. See either of the links above - would you say that was a 'common skill'?

I meant a skill that's common to both mathematics and philosophy. Sorry for being unclear.

Reply 14

Juichiro

18

Original post by Tabstercat

Err what? Logic is about how to construct a valid argument, which is the basis of philosophical thought.

Saying that logic is the basis of philosophical thought is equivalent to saying that formal logic is the basis of mathematics: incorrect. There are areas of philosophical thought that are not logical. And certainly, a lot of philosophical thought is not logical, where logical means related to the construction of a valid argument, namely because the premises used are not true or uncertain. This would include stuff like metaphysics, existentialism and most of the philosophy of ethics, among others. And this is just the tip of the iceberg in the myth that most philosophers employ logical thought. Go and check philosophical systems in the Eastern world, you are going to find a trend where the majority of their philosophical thought is not logical but "mystical". Of course, some Western philosophers (namely Aristotle and mostly those philosophers associated with the philosophy of rationalism) have committed themselves to be as logical as they could in their philosophical thinking but I think saying that logic is the basis of philosophical thought is plainly false unless one believes that all philosophers adhere to the philosophy of rationalism. And a quick check will tell you that it is not the case.

Original post by RamocitoMorales

Yes, there is an overlap between mathematics and philosophy. The same can be said of mathematics and physics. The experimentation that is done in physics is certainly not 'mathematics', but the theoretical side is more or less applied mathematics. In the same manner, the branches of philosophy which deal with ethics and moral philosophy have nothing to do with mathematics yet, as already mentioned, there are branches which are mathematical.

I did not say that there is an overlapd between maths and philosophy. But since you mention it, I would not say that there is an overlap between maths and philosophy anymore than there is between the social sciences and maths. It is more of a matter of borrowing tools from another field. Sometimes, philosophy employs the mathematical tool known as formal logic to formalise their thoughts (Spinoza's formal systems are a very clear example of taking this to an extreme). I think the comparison of physics-maths with philosophy-maths is inaccurate. Reasoning and experimentation in physics mostly relies on maths, but reasoning in philosophy does not mostly rely on logic (see metaphysics and ethics for a few examples). While for pretty much all physicists math is the number one/two tool to do their job, for most philosophers, formal logic is not necessarily the number one/two tool to do their job. Formal logic is only the number one/two tool for those philosophers who adhere to the philosophy of rationalism. I think the implicit assumption that you and Tabstercat are making is that all (or is it "most") philosophers (alive and dead) adhere to the philosophy of rationalism which I think is a false assumption.

Reply 15

German123

21

Not neccasarily although it will be handy.

Reply 16

Juichiro

18

Original post by somethingbeautiful

You are.

OP. For the most part, you won't need any mathematical knowledge but if part of your philosophy course involves Logic or Philosophy of Maths, then an understanding of Maths is required.

For those ignorant wisecracks who think Philosophy is all about lounging around, smoking weed and nonchalantly asking why a chair is a chair and not a dog, take a look:

http://www.philosophy-index.com/logic/symbolic/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-modal/

There are so many branches of Philosophy. Logic will require a grasp of Mathematics.

Your layman's definition of logic is not the same as a Philosophy student's definition. So many people get that wrong. See either of the links above - would you say that was a 'common skill'?

Worth mentioning that symbolic logic was developed by and for mathematicians. Reasoning and experimentation in the social sciences is statistical in nature but statistics is not a branch of social sciences. It is a tool borrowed from mathematics even if some statistics are developed by people who work as social scientists. And while you might see many statisticians working in social sciences and many social scientists working on statistics, it does not affect what I said above.

Reply 17

whorace

2

Most of the early 20th century philosophers who actually wrote anything decent were also mathematicians interested in the philosophy of their field, particularly logic and set theory.

Reply 18

Professor Oak

20

Not necessarily.

Some branches of philosophy idolise the methodology of proving things mathematically--notably logic, (some) epistemology, (some) metaphysics, (some) philosophy of language. A level maths doesn't really go into proofs, so I wouldn't worry too much about studying it but reading about it would give you a massive step up.

Other branches/disciplines of philosophy aren't particularly interested in porting mathematical methods into philosophy and natural language. Their argumentative styles is more akin to evaluating themes in English Literature. They can have no clear methodology of argument or anything that resembles a structured, logical mathematical argument. So in these areas mathematics is mostly irrelevant.

I would say, though, whichever path you take an awareness of the methodology of proving truths in mathematics will be useful.

Reply 19

Octohedral

16

I haven't seen the syllabus, but I know some of my friends have had to take logic modules.

I suspect you can get by without being a mathematical genius. I would imagine you can get a good degree and avoid the formal logic by picking your branches / modules carefully. However, that's just a case of jumping through the right hoops. I think that to really make an impact, it would be very beneficial to be able to hold complex logical arguments in your head and pick out the logical flaws, and maths trains you to do that.

I stress that I'm not a philosopher (I'm a mathematician), so my post is only speculation.

(edited 9 years ago)

Is it necessary to be good at maths to study philosophy?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you