3 ideas
10190 | From the axiomatic point of view, mathematics is a storehouse of abstract structures [Bourbaki] |
Full Idea: From the axiomatic point of view, mathematics appears as a storehouse of abstract forms - the mathematical structures. | |
From: Nicholas Bourbaki (The Architecture of Mathematics [1950], 221-32), quoted by Fraser MacBride - Review of Chihara's 'Structural Acc of Maths' p.79 | |
A reaction: This seems to be the culmination of the structuralist view that developed from Dedekind and Hilbert, and was further developed by philosophers in the 1990s. |
3568 | Surely ALL truths are externally justified, by the facts? [Cross,A] |
Full Idea: Surely ALL truths are externally justified? | |
From: Adam Cross (works [2001]), quoted by PG - Db (ideas) | |
A reaction: A very nice warning to aspiring externalists. If you actually think the justification is somehow 'out there', then everything is going to be justified, by its own facts. We need to get the justification 'in here'. |
7810 | The 'Eumenides' of Aeschylus shows blood feuds replaced by law [Aeschylus, by Grayling] |
Full Idea: The 'Eumenides' of Aeschylus tells how the old rule of revenge and blood feud was replaced by a due process of law before a civil jury. | |
From: report of Aeschylus (The Eumenides [c.458 BCE]) by A.C. Grayling - What is Good? Ch.2 | |
A reaction: Compare Idea 1659, where this revolution is attributed to Protagoras (a little later than Aeschylus). I take the rule of law and of society to be above all the rule of reason, because the aim is calm objectivity instead of emotion. |