[FOM] Mathematics and precision

[Henrik Nordmark]

On Mar 5, 2007, at 3:51 PM, Timothy Y. Chow wrote:

> The argument I want to make is that all these folks are doing the same
> thing---they're defining mathematics by specifying a threshold of
> precision, whatever that threshold might be.

> This is in contrast to other subjects where debates about "What is  
> X?" are
> typically debates about what the *subject matter* is.


Yes, that is indeed an interesting insight.

It seems as if Mathematics is defined by its methodology and not so  
much or at all by its underlying ontology whatever that may be.
I guess the same could be said about other disciplines such as Logic  
or Philosophy.


And this is different from other disciplines...

In the sciences, may that be physics or psychology, the research is  
constrained by methodological issues and technological capabilities  
but these indeed do not *define* the subject matter.


Henrik.


Henrik Nordmark
Institute for Logic, Language and Computation
Universiteit van Amsterdam
www.henriknordmark.com