Is Mathematics Discovered Or Invented?

An anonymous reader points out an article up at Science News on a question that, remarkably, is still being debated after a few thousand years: is mathematics discovered, or is it invented? Those who answer "discovered" are the intellectual descendants of Plato; their number includes Roger Penrose. The article notes that one difficulty with the Platonic view: if mathematical ideas exist in some way independent of humans or minds, then human minds engaged in doing mathematics must somehow be able to connect with this non-physical state. The European Mathematical Society recently devoted space to the debate. One of the papers, Let Platonism die, can be found on page 24 of this PDF. The author believes that Platonism "has more in common with mystical religions than with modern science."

Comments

Math more in common with Mystics - No shit.

[Qbertino]

The problem with the current wide following of materialisim is that it somehow synthetically imposes a decoupling of the spiritual and the material, in order to then be able to fully dismiss the spiritual as non-sense. I that way todays abundant confession of pure materialisim is just as wacky as the exact opposite: spiritualisim. Which tries to project the laws and mechanisims of the material world on to the spiritual.
Of-f*cking-course does math have more in common with mysticisim that with natural science - there is no way you can measure or weigh Math. We can sense it in the reflection of our sentinent minds only. That doesn't make it less real. It's called the spiritual world, you twit!

I'd even go further: I say a modern Mathematician has *much* more in common with ancient religious prophets and leaders than todays blind followers and proponents of constructed confessions people call 'religion'. Be they some variant of the monotheistic theme or some degenerated kit of current liturgies modelled after pantheistic beliefs and traditions, carried out with no true sense of their initial meaning *and* - even worse - with no intent whatsoever to explore or discover, none-the-less discuss their origins.

In my point of view a bright and carefull thinking & observing philosopher or is far closer to God than some evangelistic priest. The big problem is however that these people often propone pure materialisim and neglegt all holisticisim as pure and utter nonsense. And yet again, with the islam fundamentalists gaining so much attention these days and the most powerfull country in the world run by a evangelistic loonie (both claiming to base their actions on a religious and spiritual inclination and insight) I somehow can't blame them.