Tag Archives: epistemology

IS EVERY MATHEMATICAL THEOREM A TAUTOLOGY?

If one uses a classically rigorous definition of a tautology, the answer is yes. Classically, a tautology is a statement that is necessarily true by the classical laws of logic (identity, non-contradiction, excluded middle). So, statements such as “if the grass is green then the grass is green” and “all bachelors are unmarried men” are […]

WHY DID GÖDEL’S INCOMPLETENESS THEOREM BECOME SO FAMOUS OUTSIDE MATHEMATICS?

This question is actually the reverse of what should be asked about this Theorem: why is it so famous within mathematics? Answers by mathematicians to this question assume their conceptual math problems are at the heart of this Theorem and thus ridicule its application to conceptual problems of formal logical explanations for anything else. This […]

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CODE AND LANGUAGE?

In the simplest of terms, code is not language and language is not code even though informally sometimes it is incorrectly called “computer language”. Neither the computer nor any linked community of computers such as the internet speaks a language; humans represent useful language information in their computer use through code. Language consists of and […]

“PEOPLE ONLY BELIEVE WHAT THEY WANT TO BELIEVE”

I.   Prologue / The Nature of the Problem and Questions Presented   The aphorism “people only believe what they want to believe” is a common description by proponents of an observation or argument of their opponents’ beliefs — proponents and opponents in a relative sense, this aphorism is often said simultaneously by all parties having opposing descriptions […]