Brent Meeker writes (quoting SP):
> >>But the fact that a theorem is true relative to some axioms doesn't make it true
> >>or existent. Some mathematicians I know regard it as a game. Is true that a
> >>bishop can only move diagonally? It is relative to chess. Does chess exist?
> >>It does in our heads. But without us it wouldn't.
> >
> >
> > What more could we possibly ask of a theorem other than that it be true relative to some
> > axioms? That a theorem should describe some aspect of the real world, or that it should
> > be discovered by some mathematician, is contingent on the nature of the real world, but that
> > it is true is not.
>
> That it is a true description of the real world, or that it is a true theorem
> relative to the axioms. It is a mistake to conflate the two, which I suspect is
> done by people claiming mathematical theorems are true.
OK then, I agree. The two should not be conflated.
Stathis Papaioannou
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Received on Sat Aug 19 2006 - 05:51:46 PDT