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Depending on how philosophical you want to get, it is not so clear what exists and what does not. Neither it is absolutely clear what means to be discovered. I
by yiyus 7y ago
Depending on how philosophical you want to get, it is not so clear what exists and what does not. Neither it is absolutely clear what means to be discovered.
I think that ideas can be discovered. In my opinion, theorems, or more precisely the proof of these theorems, for instance, are discovered. In the sense that they are not an invention, they "emerge" from more fundamental definitions.
You seem to be of the opinion that the only things that can be discovered are those that emerge from the "real world", whatever the real world is. That is, I guess, an acceptable interpretation, but I do not think is the only possibility.
To give a very concrete example, chess rules do not exist in the real world, but knight's tours are discovered.
- Y_Y 7y agoOn the contrary. I think that "real" and "imaginary" numbers are both discovered and neither concept has more reality than the other. I think that even chess rules have a meaningful "existence" (in a Platonic sense) even if they are in some sense arbitrary. We can't discover "the one true rule system" but we can discover various possible systems and also theorems about them.
- jeffdavis 7y agoWhy aren't real and imaginary numbers both invented?