4 ms·

Mathematical Platonism is dangerous for mental health. Cantor is a great example of someone who literally went crazy contemplating the meaning of uncountable in

• antiform 18y ago
  What are you basing this on? Mathematics may lead to highly surprising and nonintuitive answers, but that doesn't mean that mathematical ideas drive people crazy. While Cantor did take his work seriously and was said to have believed that he was indeed doing God's work, he was probably bipolar. Given the attitude toward mental health at the time, it seems that whether he was a mathematician, merchant, or mason, he would have become "mad." While Cantor is the classic example of a mathematician gone insane, there was also a number of things besides grappling with concepts of infinity that could have also have been a factor, like always being passed over for professorships and many prominent mathematicians (like Henri Poincare) trying to keep his work out of the canon of mathematics.
  • rw 18y ago
    Thank you for adding relevant biographical details.