Comments on: Is Math True? http://www.clockbackward.com/2009/01/18/is-math-true/ A Mathematician Writes About Philosophy, Science, Ethics, Religion, Skepticism and the Search for Truth Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:45:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: John Tremblay http://www.clockbackward.com/2009/01/18/is-math-true/comment-page-1/#comment-3622 John Tremblay Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:41:17 +0000 http://clockbackward.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-3622 I'm not sure. It seems mathematical statements, like 2+3=5, are among the closest things to truth we have, beyond bare logical statements like -[A+(-A)]. I'm surprised at your suggestion that the statement "massive objects exert forces on other massive objects" has a better claim to truth than 2+3=5. (Actually, I see you are careful not to say that.) Surely 2+3=5 is thought to be more necessarily true than "massive objects exert forces on other massive objects". If mathematical statements aren't true then it is difficult to see what statements could count as true. No? I’m not sure. It seems mathematical statements, like 2+3=5, are among the closest things to truth we have, beyond bare logical statements like -[A+(-A)]. I’m surprised at your suggestion that the statement “massive objects exert forces on other massive objects” has a better claim to truth than 2+3=5. (Actually, I see you are careful not to say that.) Surely 2+3=5 is thought to be more necessarily true than “massive objects exert forces on other massive objects”.

If mathematical statements aren’t true then it is difficult to see what statements could count as true. No?

]]> By: Sarah Adina Smith http://www.clockbackward.com/2009/01/18/is-math-true/comment-page-1/#comment-604 Sarah Adina Smith Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:01:14 +0000 http://clockbackward.wordpress.com/?p=7#comment-604 nice! thanks for this essay... I agree - I think of mathematics as a language... we would never say "Spanish" is true or false... it is a system people use to describe and model their world... nice! thanks for this essay…

I agree – I think of mathematics as a language… we would never say “Spanish” is true or false… it is a system people use to describe and model their world…

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