3 ms·

> math reasoning really filter out people in a way nothing else does. I have known many people, to whom mathematical reasoning comes as easily and naturally as

by DC-3 3y ago

> math reasoning really filter out people in a way nothing else does. I have known many people, to whom mathematical reasoning comes as easily and naturally as flight does to a swallow, be defeated by literature. Every technical university in the world is brimming with bright young people who could effortlessly describe a Jacobian but would rather gnaw off their own hand than produce a response to a story or sonnet. > And philosophy, mostly because of jargon and reference. Otherwise, if you break it down, it's not that complicated. Quite the claim.

BiteCode_dev 3y ago
They are not defeated by literature, they are just not that interested in it, and therefore never practiced, and dislike working on it. It's not a matter of the field being too difficult. It's a matter of personality. > Quite the claim. Yes. I've discussed this claim with people defending the opposite idea, and I've yet to find anybody making a good demonstration that philosophy is hard in itself. They point that there is a lot to know. So reference and memory. Like most expertise in the world. That texts are hard to read. So style, vocabulary. Well, not different than programming or the law on that point. They are easier than higher level math. They say few people get novel ideas. Yes, creativity is rare, yet it's not particularly linked to the field. You need creativity to find new theorems too. So they try to bring complicated topics again and again. Once we are done mapping the references, the vocabulary and cleaned out the awful style a lot of writers use to obfuscate their reasoning, the ideas behind are quite straightforward to grasp. I've stopped doing it now, it takes a very long time, and it's always disappointing. It feels like debugging a program, only to realize it could have been 10 times shorter and easier to read.
- DC-3 3y ago
  As I read it, your argument boils down to: > When a student who likes literature does poorly in mathematics, it is because he is not clever enough. > When a student who likes mathematics does poorly in literature, it is because it is boring. If you truly believe this I have nothing more to say to you. I will not respond to your comments on philosophy, though I think they are wrongheaded, because I think your position to discuss such things is made untenable by the obvious contempt in which you hold the humanities.
  - BiteCode_dev 3y ago
    > If you truly believe this Well, I've tried sincerely to find out what was difficult about philosophy for many years. Have you done the same with math? > because I think your position to discuss such things is made untenable by the obvious contempt in which you hold the humanities. You assume I was a math head, and that I have disdain from humanities. That's a total projection which tells me you are not being objective in this discussion. So you are right, it's a good thing we stop there. But for the record I actually like humanities. Just because you think a topic is harder than another doesn't mean you prefer one. I don't even particularly like math, and I'm very bad at it. I'm probably better than the average Joe, but I'm way better at writing than at calculating. And I enjoy reading philosophy and sociology. It's ironic that someone in humanities can be so judgmental of its fellow human, and in a very black and white way.

by DC-3 3y ago

BiteCode_dev 3y ago

They are not defeated by literature, they are just not that interested in it, and therefore never practiced, and dislike working on it. It's not a matter of the field being too difficult. It's a matter of personality. > Quite the claim. Yes. I've discussed this claim with people defending the opposite idea, and I've yet to find anybody making a good demonstration that philosophy is hard in itself. They point that there is a lot to know. So reference and memory. Like most expertise in the world. That texts are hard to read. So style, vocabulary. Well, not different than programming or the law on that point. They are easier than higher level math. They say few people get novel ideas. Yes, creativity is rare, yet it's not particularly linked to the field. You need creativity to find new theorems too. So they try to bring complicated topics again and again. Once we are done mapping the references, the vocabulary and cleaned out the awful style a lot of writers use to obfuscate their reasoning, the ideas behind are quite straightforward to grasp. I've stopped doing it now, it takes a very long time, and it's always disappointing. It feels like debugging a program, only to realize it could have been 10 times shorter and easier to read.

DC-3 3y ago
As I read it, your argument boils down to: > When a student who likes literature does poorly in mathematics, it is because he is not clever enough. > When a student who likes mathematics does poorly in literature, it is because it is boring. If you truly believe this I have nothing more to say to you. I will not respond to your comments on philosophy, though I think they are wrongheaded, because I think your position to discuss such things is made untenable by the obvious contempt in which you hold the humanities.
- BiteCode_dev 3y ago
  > If you truly believe this Well, I've tried sincerely to find out what was difficult about philosophy for many years. Have you done the same with math? > because I think your position to discuss such things is made untenable by the obvious contempt in which you hold the humanities. You assume I was a math head, and that I have disdain from humanities. That's a total projection which tells me you are not being objective in this discussion. So you are right, it's a good thing we stop there. But for the record I actually like humanities. Just because you think a topic is harder than another doesn't mean you prefer one. I don't even particularly like math, and I'm very bad at it. I'm probably better than the average Joe, but I'm way better at writing than at calculating. And I enjoy reading philosophy and sociology. It's ironic that someone in humanities can be so judgmental of its fellow human, and in a very black and white way.