RE: When is a Religious Belief Delusional?
September 11, 2018 at 4:20 pm
(This post was last modified: September 11, 2018 at 4:23 pm by polymath257.)
(September 11, 2018 at 3:25 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:(September 7, 2018 at 2:50 pm)polymath257 Wrote: Was the game of chess invented or discovered? I think we would agree it was invented...The situation is very similar in mathematics. We invent the mathematical system and then discover the consequences of our assumptions.
On first blush that appears to be a reasonable position until one question arises. Does mathematics reveal truths about reality.?
No. It helps us *phrase* truths about reality (as does any language). But in and of itself, it has no bearing on reality.
Added: The point is that we can never know if the mathematical language actually applies in any given real situation. That must be tested through observation. Hence math, at best, gives us a way to talk about things, but cannot reveal anything.
