At 10:28 AM -0600 2/28/08, Christopher Menzel wrote:
>On Feb 28, 2008, at 9:00 AM, John F. Sowa wrote:
> > ...
>> Practicing mathematicians -- people who actually solve problems
>> that other people pay somebody to solve -- dismiss the study
>> of foundations as *irrelevant*.
>
>I don't think they dismiss it so much as ignore it. (01)
The term 'foundations' is well chosen. When building a house,
everyone relies on the foundation to be there, and to perform its
function of bearing weight, keeping still and being level. But as
long as one has confidence that the foundation actually exists, there
is no need to give it any further thought. Certainly, all the
professional skills that go into a building - framing, bricklaying,
plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc. - are very different than those
that are involved in actual foundation-laying work (rebar,
form-building, soil compaction and concrete), and most of them bear
no relation to it at all. One would not ask a framer to pour a
foundation, or a concrete contractor to build a roof. Similarly with
mathematics and formal logic. (02)
Pat
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