[FOM] The lure of the infinite

[Eray Ozkural]

On 2/17/06, Gabriel Stolzenberg <gstolzen at math.bu.edu> wrote:
>    I'm not sure if it effects Davis's point but isn't it true that
> Berkeley did not mean his criticism to be devastating?  Wasn't he
> just offering an intellectual defense of religion by pointing out
> that, conceptually, religious belief was in no worse shape than the
> calculus?

If that is indeed the case, and if Berkeley is right, then his criticism
would show a serious flaw to scientifically minded mathematicians
who like to think of their mathematics as a scientific body of knowledge
rather than a religious collection of beliefs. In the current discussions,
the attitude of mathematicians when they suggest that they are looking for
axioms that reflect absolute truth without any empirical basis for it,
points to the latter I am afraid.

Regards,

--
Eray Ozkural (exa), PhD candidate.  Comp. Sci. Dept., Bilkent University, Ankara
http://www.cs.bilkent.edu.tr/~erayo  Malfunct: http://www.malfunct.com
ai-philosophy: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ai-philosophy
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