I was going to say something rude, but then I discovered that Marx had beaten me to it:
"Philosophy and the study of the actual world have the same relation to one another as onanism and sexual love" (Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, The German Ideology, I, III, 1, 6, C<http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch03e.htm>, 1845-6) Like onanism, philosophy passes the time, makes one feel good and shouldn't be done in public. Also, it doesn't actually *create* anything. Hence nothing to build on. A 20th century onanist looks much like a 4th century BC onanist. -- Robert On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:17 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > > Nick, Glen, Russ, Eric, and many of us who have participated in the recent > spate of philosophical conversations .. I'd like to ask a question: > > Why is it that philosophy does not build on prior work > in the same way mathematics does? > > In trying to answer this, I looked briefly into the philosopher recommended > by Timothy Gowers in his VSI to Mathematics. In Gowers' wrestling with the > abstract (or possibly purely pragmatic) approach to mathematics, he was > profoundly affected by Wittgenstein. I'm enjoying the VSI to Wittgenstein, > and am impressed by his analytic approach. > > Frank, in the past, has mentioned that modern philosophy might be becoming > more formal, turning to a more mathematical approach (apparently flourishing > at CMU). Some call it Analytic Philosophy, which includes Wittgenstein. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_philosophy > > So the question to the philosophic amongst us: what is the answer to the > above question? Is there a way in which philosophy can build on past work > in the same way mathematics does? Is there an epsilon/delta breakthrough > just waiting to happen in that domain? Will there be a "Modern Algebra" > unification within philosophy, finding the common ground amongst widely > different concepts like symmetry groups, fields, rings, Hilbert spaces and > the like? > > -- Owen > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org >
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
