I don't know that I really have a solid opinion on this issue, other than that a bald constructivism like Halx's is false. On the other hand, I do tend towards something of a constructivist view. On this view, mathematics is universal, but not objective. It's a construction of the human mind, but a very basic one, one that all human minds share. (and I want to say all non-human minds share as well, but we really don't have much evidence either way here.) It has to be taught, and there are societies which don't recognize it, and there are different ways of counting, but they all come down to the same thing. Whether you want to say 2+2=4 or 10+10=100, you're using the same numbers, just different numerals. Mathematics is, you could say, the form of our intuition.
Besides which, the things mathematics claims to be true can be proven, and can be proven much more rigorously than most of what philosophy claims. So the denial of the universal validity of mathematics is a denial of the universal validity of logic, and that's just a denial of the validity of philosophy.
__________________
"Die Deutschen meinen, daß die Kraft sich in Härte und Grausamkeit offenbaren müsse, sie unterwerfen sich dann gerne und mit Bewunderung:[...]. Daß es Kraft giebt in der Milde und Stille, das glauben sie nicht leicht."
"The Germans believe that power must reveal itself in hardness and cruelty and then submit themselves gladly and with admiration[...]. They do not believe readily that there is power in meekness and calm."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
|