FOM: Re: fom-digest V1 #143

[Julius Moravcsik]

[ response to Martin Davis 25 Sep 1998 15:22:23 ]

The "History" is indeed a parody of what went on. It is absurd to accuse 
Plato and Platonists with ignoring the relations between the realm of
numbers and their application to elements in space-time, or mental.
The whole docxtrine of "partakinbg" and its variation in the subsequent
dialogues,
and in the work of Ramset etc. were devoted toilluminating this situation
. 
  Did they reach an adequate response? Depends on whom you ask.
  And those who ridicule THAT doctrine have NO BETTER
ADEQUATE analysis of p[redication! Even Goedel recognized that the shadow
of Parmenidean  monism still haunts mathematics. Foundationalist 
approaches try to respond responsibly to this. Those claiming
that you can avoid foundationalism have not shown how you
provide adequate principles of individuationb for numbers,
and how to explain predication in clear non-circular ways. J, Moravcsik