8714
|
Fictionalists say 2+2=4 is true in the way that 'Oliver Twist lived in London' is true [Field,H]
|
|
Full Idea:
The fictionalist can say that the sense in which '2+2=4' is true is pretty much the same as the sense in which 'Oliver Twist lived in London' is true. They are true 'according to a well-known story', or 'according to standard mathematics'.
|
|
From:
Hartry Field (Realism, Mathematics and Modality [1989], 1.1.1), quoted by Michèle Friend - Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics 6.3
|
|
A reaction:
The roots of this idea are in Carnap. Fictionalism strikes me as brilliant, but poisonous in large doses. Novels can aspire to artistic truth, or to documentary truth. We invent a fiction, and nudge it slowly towards reality.
|
12709
|
Motion is not absolute, but consists in relation [Leibniz]
|
|
Full Idea:
In reality motion is not something absolute, but consists in relation.
|
|
From:
Gottfried Leibniz (On Motion [1677], A6.4.1968), quoted by Daniel Garber - Leibniz:Body,Substance,Monad 3
|
|
A reaction:
It is often thought that motion being relative was invented by Einstein, but Leibniz wholeheartedly embraced 'Galilean relativity', and refused to even consider any absolute concept of motion. Acceleration is a bit trickier than velocity.
|