@Fido,
Fido;163113 wrote:Math is full of fiction... The greatest fiction in abstraction is that One is One... We count a field of sheep; and each sheep is one, and yet no sheep is like another, or rather, the equal of another as we would say, 1=1...What then are we adding besides qualities when math should only recognize quantities...
.
I agree. That
is a great fiction. But this applies not only to math but to all abstraction, all generalization!
And yet we would be screwed without it, and incapable of learning. It should be noted that some mathematicians pride themselves of divorcing number from reality. And yet the equations they discover/invent can be re-applied by those with more practical intentions. Non-euclidean geometry was created before Einstein, having been created for "artistic" ("pure") reasons. And yet it was quickly used to understand "reality."
---------- Post added 05-11-2010 at 04:59 PM ----------
Fido;163113 wrote:
With that said; history is a ficition, but a fiction that works toward a greater accuracy than most fiction... If you told only what could be directly verified there would not be much to tell; and if you gave only the facts, no one would read it...
Well said. This reminds me of Aristotle on plots. In some cases, perhaps fiction can say more than history concerning human nature. But as you say, history is part-fiction. I find it valuable, and don't intent to attack it. I'm merely fascinated by the difference between fiction and nonfiction, and it seems to be a smaller difference than is normally considered.
How many human beings have imitated literary or movie characters? And by doing so they are in a way incarnating fiction, making fiction real. And perhaps as we try to improve ourselves we incarnate the "fiction" of what we could be, already vague present in our minds, as non-spatial-being.
Then of course there is the problem of interpretation. One book and 10 readers is in
some ways
10 books.
There's a picture on Google of Hitler and Wittgenstein in a class photo together. Hitler looks like a little smart ass.:Glasses: