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> Mathematics can be true, beautiful, compelling, creative, unique, etc. Yes, but that does not mean it is art. Art literally means something created by humans
by olavk 10y ago
> Mathematics can be true, beautiful, compelling, creative, unique, etc.
Yes, but that does not mean it is art. Art literally means something created by humans, which is distinct from the natural sciences which is studying nature. Both are worthwhile, but it's not the same.
- IanCal 10y agoI really don't think art has such a clear definition, but nevertheless looking at definitions, here's the first thing on Google: > the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Can you find no space for mathematics there? No definitions or creations produced simply because they are beautiful? Maybe some later found uses, but that feels like discounting Michelangelo's David because it could be used to hold open a large door.
- olavk 10y agoMaybe the word "art" have such positive connotations that it seems disparaging to state that something is not art. But that is not my intention at all. I'm just noting that in the usual sense of the word, math is not art just like say sociology or software design or sex is not art. Of course you can make a definition of art which does include all those activities and everything else for that matter, nobody owns the word.
- IanCal 10y agoI didn't make up a definition though. That's an OED definition of art. Perhaps "doing maths" is often not art, but then neither is writing. Both can serve specific uses that wouldn't easily fall under definitions of art, but that doesn't mean they can't be. Software engineering isn't but then is it really a stretch to describe this spinning globe quine as art? https://github.com/knoxknox/qlobe https://github.com/knoxknox/qlobe or this 100 language quine https://github.com/mame/quine-relay/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/mame/quine-relay/blob/master/README.md
- mrob 10y ago"God made the integers, all else is the work of man." - Leopold Kronecker Mathematics is also something created by humans.
- olavk 10y agoSo is astronomy, but that does not make it art. Of course you can define art however you want, it just not how the word is usually used. (Unless you take it in the colloquial sense of "something to appreciate", like in "that ass is a piece of art".)
- hx87 10y agoMathematics is not a natural science. Its structure and content is obtained strictly from axioms and logic.
- olavk 10y agoI didn't intend to claim it way, just using examples.
- ouid 10y agoThen video games qualify. This is an article which argues that something does not satisfy the criteria for art. So when he he invokes his ability to exclude mathematics from the definition without any justification, or at least without appealing to any reasoning whatsoever, and then using that conclusion to assert that games aren't art, all he is doing is demonstrating that his essay should have been much shorter. The same unqualified assertion that applies to mathematics would apply to videogames, and he needs go no further than the thesis.
- olavk 10y agoI happen to agree. Video games definitely qualify as art in my opinion. Math does not. I don't buy his argument either. But the underlying mistake is thinking "art" means "valuable and worthwhile" (and "not art" means "bad"). There is lots of crappy art.
- NoahTheDuke 10y ago> Art literally means something created by humans Mathematics are created by humans. Math is the map, not the territory.