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It's Graham's confidence that I (and I think OP) find puzzling. He doesn't say "According to Platonist ideas...", or "In my opinion...". Just "mathematical trut
by n4r9 4y ago
It's Graham's confidence that I (and I think OP) find puzzling. He doesn't say "According to Platonist ideas...", or "In my opinion...". Just "mathematical truths are true by definition". There's a brashness and lack of nuance there that makes me want to stop reading.
- jondeval 4y agoSome of that is a stylistic judgement call on the part of pg. He wants to move quickly to his central idea, not enter into a nuanced discussion of the philosophy of mathematics. I think pg is educated, at least the broad outline, of the age-old controversies in this topic and I'm grateful as a reader that he spares me the details and assumes some preliminary context.
- svnt 4y agoHe’s clearly not, is the thing, unless he has acquired that education in the last year or two. His style of pop philosophy is useful in startups because it does not require context. It is ungrounded in actual philosophy, and would struggle to find an audience outside of this group.
- n4r9 4y agoI appreciate what you're saying; it's only the first paragraph and he wants to nail some initial things down that he sees as straightforward context or examples. But it is not straightforward to me. Or, in my impression, most philosophers. I'm reluctant to agree that aliens will assign any importance or even understand concepts like geometry or calculus. So to me, it is not preliminary context but it is a critical part of the discussion.