<James>
> As regards the argument that "mental patterns" are generated from "social
> patterns", why do some intellectual patterns, like mathematics for example,
> seem to have a trans-cultural, relatively universal character, and others
> not?
</James>
Are they? Although there are various different traditions of maths [witness
theories about pi], they were all trying to accomplish essentially the same
things - measuring lengths, calculating areas, volumes and taxes. Perhaps this
an example of convergent evolution where the dinosaur ichthyosaurus and
mammalian porpoises look remarkably similar.
And I would say, at the risk of invoking the wrath of the DWEM haters, that
there is only a single modern tradition of maths for precisely the same reason
that there was only one industrial revolution - the European - although other
cultural insights may well have affected it in some way.
Regards,
Hamish
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