(May 20, 2016 at 5:14 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Logical proofs are conditional, by their very nature -as- conditional statements, even proofs by contradiction. Depending on what you are referring to with the term absolute knowledge - even logic may not suffice.
"If, and, then" are the often unspoken beginnings of premises, assertions, and conclusions....and the underlying and similarly unspoken conditional...is that we even have the rules right to begin with. We have, in the past, found that we did not.
All very true but the same applies to mathematics. 2+2=4 because 2 and 2 and 4 are actually the same thing. 2+2 is 'proven' to equal to 4 only if you also agree that an unmarried person is equal to a bachelor is 'proven'
Numbers are labels just like definitions are and definitions add up just like numbers do when they are tautological.
Mathematics and logic are ultimately absolute. We can't prove WHY 2+2 is 4 but we also can't prove WHY an unmarried person is a bachelor.
