[FRIAM] Can empirical discoveries be mathematical?

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

Proving once again that, no however deep Thompson tries to go, Zingale can go deeper, much deeper.  

 

Ok, is mathematics (logic, etc.) a way of arriving at true propositions distinct from observation or are mathematical truths different from empirical truths?  

 

I keep hearing Hywel in my ears:  Mathematics is all very well but sometimes you have to know what you are doing.  

 

I think I am starting to know the answer just by being badgered by you guys.  I can from relativity theory predict that during a solar eclipse a distant star will pop out from behind the sun at T= xxxx =/- xxxx sec.  I can observe empirically that, indeed, the star popped out within that time range.  Thus I have arrived at the same proposition both by mathematical and empirical means.  Is that oK.  

 

Nick Thompson

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

From: Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of Jon Zingale
Sent: Friday, September 3, 2021 4:37 PM
To: friam at redfish.com
Subject: [FRIAM] Can empirical discoveries be mathematical?

 

Beginning with Oxford,

 

empirical: based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.

 

Where then Nick goes on to argue, perhaps, that experience of logic is experience and so "experience rather than theory or pure logic" is meaningless. Then somewhere in hell's pub, far far away, Glen rolls his eyes and wonders whether he should write about scoping or simply berate Nick for navel-gazing.

 

But then, maybe this is the case for logic and not mathematics. Perhaps mathematics requires abstraction, representation, and objectification. It may be necessary to make bold claims like, "my love is like the integers". At some point during the process, one has to decide whether a thing has a front or a back or an inside to be out. Even the designation married comes with baggage, to be taken for granted in the objectification process.

 

Ah, but if I have it correct, Nick also believes that a day like no other is no day at all. Nothing can be known about such a day. The only days are those that are like the integers (type) or days like today (class).

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/attachments/20210903/3cf6d389/attachment.html>