Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Axiomatic Theories of Truth', 'Morals and Modals' and 'Mathematics and Philosophy: grand and little'

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3 ideas

7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 3. Being / a. Nature of Being
Mathematics inscribes being as such [Badiou]
     Full Idea: Mathematics inscribes being as such.
     From: Alain Badiou (Mathematics and Philosophy: grand and little [2004], p.12)
     A reaction: I don't pretend to understand that, but there is something about the purity and certainty of mathematics that makes us feel we are grappling with the core of existence. Perhaps. The same might be said of stubbing your toe on a bedpost.
7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 6. Criterion for Existence
It is of the essence of being to appear [Badiou]
     Full Idea: It is of the essence of being to appear.
     From: Alain Badiou (Mathematics and Philosophy: grand and little [2004], p.16)
     A reaction: Nice slogan. In my humble opinion 'continental' philosophy is well worth reading because, despite the fluffy rhetoric and the shameless egotism and the desire to shock the bourgeoisie, they occasionally make wonderfully thought-provoking remarks.
7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 2. Reduction
That Peano arithmetic is interpretable in ZF set theory is taken by philosophers as a reduction [Halbach]
     Full Idea: The observation that Peano arithmetic is relatively interpretable in ZF set theory is taken by many philosophers to be a reduction of numbers to sets.
     From: Volker Halbach (Axiomatic Theories of Truth [2011], 23)
     A reaction: Nice! Being able to express something in a different language is not the same as a reduction. Back to the drawing board. What do you really mean by a reduction? If we model something, we don't 'reduce' it to the model.