Ophelia Belle
I also believe that mathematical equations are powers of the universe that not only make sense, they are the very fabric of which we live by (not something that LOOKS real for only one part, but not the others).
Some folks don't like hearing either of those things, lol.
So, does this mean that you think mathematics is somehow the most fundamental constituent of the universe? Of reality?
If so, can I ask what you characterise mathematical entities as? Because there's an interesting problem within philosophy of maths that runs like this:
Theories that seem to give us a good account of what mathematical entities
are, cannot account for how we
know about them.
Theories that seem to give us a good account of how we
know about mathematical entities, cannot account for what we think they
are.
Basically, the problem is this: we think that mathematical entities (numbers, functions, etc) are abstract entities. We don't think there's any material sevenness floating around out there in space and time, the way cats and planets do. But, if mathematical entities are abstract entities, there is a problem of causation. Causation, as far as we can tell, operates
within space-time. It is very difficult, if seven is an abstract entity outside of space-time, to imagine how we might have come to know about seven. We cannot interact with it.
Theories about how we know about mathematics - i.e. based on induction from past instances of us performing mathematical equations, or something similar - are theories about the events in space-time, about how we come to abstract concepts from our interactions with concrete entities. But such theories seem to suggest that the abstract entities themselves, should they exist, have nothing to do with our knowledge of maths - they might as well not exist. But that's not how we generally think about maths. We think that, for example, 7+3=10 must be a
necessary truth, and that's why we think there must be abstract entities that
make it true.
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