That is one of the nicest obituaries I’ve seen.
—Barry
On 24 Mar 2021, at 19:24, jon zingale wrote:
From time to time, I find myself reflecting on the wisdom of my old
friend
Hywel, and this time in particular, on the anti-representational
nature of
his epistemology. Hywel was well known for his aphorisms and most
famously
the declaration that:
"Mathematics is fine, but it is better to know what you are doing".
Occasionally, I would hear this as a staunch refutation of math envy.
Upon
more gracious reflection it occurs to me that there is much to be
gained
from substituting, in the aphorism, "Mathematics" for
"Representation".
Perhaps, even better would be the declaration that:
"Representation is fine, but it is better to know directly".
Hywel would often decry the existence of numbers, to which Frank would
playfully reply, "Hywel, how many mothers do you have"? Hywel's
response was
a tacit smile, his wisdom would need to wait for a more amenable
moment.
Hywel's thought was radically empirical. The *world* itself was the
thing to
know and everything else an, often convenient, illusion. To proceed
with the
discussion, granting mothers, was to already concede a denotational
worldview that was not his own.
It is perhaps more insightful to reflect on his views on non-units.
Hywelian
epistemology admits no two things the *same*. To discuss neutrinos
with him,
the area of his expertise, was to discuss the experiments themselves,
the
blips of particle detectors, and the tubs of baby oil. Relations
always
between direct perceptions. To ask him about the exchangeability of
protons
was to have a discussion about particle decay. All symmetries,
illusory.
While representationalists find themselves in paradox pondering the
source,
whence objects come? Hywel's epistemology finds no such concern and
continues to find purchase out there among the stars.
--
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