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Meaninglessness of all views ie mathematics and science

 
 
VSPrasad
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 05:06 am
Logic used to find meanig has a drawback.

In the 1930s, Austrian mathematician Godel proved a
theorem which became the "Godel theorem" in cognition
theory. It states that any formalized 'logical' system
in principle cannot be complete in itself. It means
that a statement can always be found that can be
neither disproved nor proved using the means of that
particular system. To discuss about such a statement,
one must go beyond that very logic system; otherwise
nothing but a vicious circle will result. Psychologist
say that any experience is contingent - it's opposite
is logically possible and hence should not be treated
as contradictory.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/complexity/CompLexicon/godel.html
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 06:08 am
Quote:

In the 1930s, Austrian mathematician Godel proved a
theorem which became the "Godel theorem" in cognition
theory. It states that any formalized 'logical' system
in principle cannot be complete in itself. It means
that a statement can always be found that can be
neither disproved nor proved using the means of that
particular system. To discuss about such a statement,
one must go beyond that very logic system; otherwise
nothing but a vicious circle will result. Psychologist
say that any experience is contingent - it's opposite
is logically possible and hence should not be treated
as contradictory.


GODEL used zemelo axiomatic system there are non-axiomatic systems godel used axioms that Russels said where invalid

there is a paradox called the skolem paradox which collapses zemelo axiomatic system into meaningless
s godel used one of many axiomatic systems - and the one he used was meaningless ie self contradictory
all godel proved was in terms of the axioms he used
what would
it look like in non-zemelo axiomatic systems
BUT
what godel proved was that maths is self contradictory he just rediscovered the lair paradox which Russell saw was the consequence of the axioms godel used - and which is why Russels abandoned the very axioms that godel used
BUT
dean has shown that godel is him self self contradictory -he views end in meaningless
0 Replies
 
JLNobody
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 03:29 pm
VSPrasad, thanks for an intersting contribution. And if you are new to A2K welcome.
I have not read Godel, but I assume--simplistically I'm sure--that his theorem is noting that all logical systems are tautological: they do not teach us "information" about the world, only the "entailments" within their own constructions. I will link at your look to see how much I am leaving out.

I do wish Nightrider would write more conscientiously. His carelessness with the language is very disruptive.
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 04:04 pm
Why you still taking Godel seriously when Godel is nonsense meaninglessness


GODEL used Zemlo axiomatic system there are non-axiomatic systems Godel used axioms that Russell's said where invalid

there is a paradox called the Skolem paradox which collapses zemelo axiomatic system into meaningless
Godel used one of many axiomatic systems - and the one he used was meaningless ie self contradictory
all Godel proved was in terms of the axioms he used
what would
it look like in non-Zemelo axiomatic systems
BUT
what Godel proved was that maths is self contradictory he just rediscovered the lair paradox which Russell saw was the consequence of the axioms godel used - and which is why Russell's abandoned the very axioms that Godel used
BUT
dean has shown that godel is him self self contradictory -he views end in meaningless
0 Replies
 
JLNobody
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 04:22 pm
Nightrider, I'm surprised that you would have me ignore Godel because he is "meaningless" when you (aka Dean) have condemned ALL thinking as meaningless--including your (Dean's) thesis.

I see all views as relative to many factors (history, culture, personality, etc.) and never just as absolute (i.e., transcending history, culture and personality). Yet I do acknowledge the existence of a transcendental reality that I can never know in ITS terms, only in terms of mine.

One step farther: since I am an expressiion of that transcendental reality my relativistic perspective is also--ultimately, as is yours--one with that reality. Nirvana=Samsara; Relative=Absolute; Everything=Nothing, etc.
As such, I see the universe in my every breath.
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 04:51 pm
JLN,

As usual Dean is barking up the wrong tree. It is not the particulars of Godel (et al) working at the frontiers of set theory which delimit the applicability of "logic", it is the dualism assumed by the action of nominal measurement (naming a "thing"as a member of a set) which is the philosophical stumbling block which in turn renders static binary truth values incompatible with dynamic reality. Binary logicality is NOT the only arbitor of "meaning".
A simple sentence of the form

"the only problem these days is that I have no problems"

is meaningful to the extent that we can make it so irrespective of its logicality or otherwise. i.e. "Semantics" can involve level shifts where the surface item "problem" can dynamically oscillate between different "set membership criteria" which is mirrored by our dynamic relationship to the nature of its "thingness".

As we have discussed before, it was Piaget who first pointed out the futility of "logic" to "explain" cognitive development, since logic was an end product of such a process (for some). The child without a developed sense of logic still makes his world "meaningful" by accommodating to it.
0 Replies
 
JLNobody
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 05:44 pm
Very good and clearly presented. Thanks.
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Mon 20 Aug, 2007 09:39 pm
Quote:
it is the dualism assumed by the action of nominal measurement (naming a "thing"as a member of a set) which is the philosophical stumbling block which in turn renders static binary truth values incompatible with dynamic reality.


WHAT renders binary logic invalid is not dualism
if by dynamic reality you mean a reality in flux and change then your logic and language you use are both invalid as they both need a static unchanging essence to work
if you say reality is dynamic but names "things" "sets" "horse"are static then you are self contradictory
your very claim that reality is dynamic leads you into denying logic and language and supporting deans claim that all views end in meaningless nonsense
YOU HAVE SHOT YOUR SELF IN YOUR OWN FOOT


"Aristotelian logic as an epistemic condition of truth, the grand narrative of western philosophy: logic-centrism, the limitations of Aristotelian logic, the end of Aristotelian logic, logic/essence and language lead to the meaningless of all views"

Edit [Moderator]: Link removed

Quote:
At the very beginning of the formulations of logic by Aristotle there was a problem that Aristotle could not solve. A problem which Western philosophy has ignored and which makes Aristotelian logic untenable and thus the whole of Western philosophy. This problem is if there is change then the notion of essence is untenable and thus also Aristotelian logic. As we saw Aristotle grounded logic on the notion of essence but if there is change then essence becomes untenable - a problem Aristotle saw but could not solve. Aristotle notes that in his time people argued that nothing could be said to be true about anything that changes. He goes on to say an infinite regress is set up when there is change for when something comes into being there must be of necessity from which it is produced and something by which it is produced. Now even if we refrain from this regress Aristotle claims that though "nothing … persists quantitatively it is by their persistent form that each thing is known" Aristotle claims that though our corner of the universe has change it is entirely negligible component of the whole universe. Nevertheless he says that it must be demonstrated that there is an unchanging nature and this is the belief that people must acquire. If "… nothing has a substance[ or essence]there is nothing that is of necessity i.e. the laws of logic are invalid as they postulate necessity. Aristotle notes that if every thing is a property of every thing else then instead of change we would have the Parmenidesian notion of every thing at rest or no change instead of the Heraclitusian every thing in motion or change.


Quote:
On this point O'Hear, in What Philosophy Is, states "…without our terms and our logic being firm and clear at the outset, it will be unclear just what is meant by any statement at all [consequently without fixed terms our system of language will] collapse into an incoherent and featureless pile of statements, the sense of any one of which is indeterminate and perpetually shifting because of changes he may decide to make in other beliefs."



Quote:
"… whatever the circumstances of writing and speaking, being understood is what counts. Intelligibility depends on the unequivocality of the terms used. Syllogism would be impossible if the sense of the predicate e.g. "being a human being", should change during deduction … the unequivocality the preservation of one meaning, authorizes formalization; thus, one can symbolize the concept "human being" by one letter, for instance a. A symbol represents a thing, a type of entity, a category of individuals and it is on condition of referring to the same thing, the same type of entity, the same category of individuals that the symbol is operational in logical description."



Quote:
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 12:06 am
Dean, you obviously can't or won't understand the significance of my example sentence (in that it refutes "logicality" as a necessary condition for "meaning") or the genetic epistemology of Piaget within which logicality is deconstructed and re-constructed with respect to biological and sociological substrata.
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 03:07 am
Quote:
As we have discussed before, it was Piaget who first pointed out the futility of "logic" to "explain" cognitive development, since logic was an end product of such a process (for some). The child without a developed sense of logic still makes his world "meaningful" by accommodating to it

what does piaget mean by logic
what is his meaning of meaning
Quiine says some where meaning is one of the most slippery words there is
dean at least says what he means by meaninglessness
and

Quote:
Dean, you obviously can't or won't understand the significance of my example sentence (in that it refutes "logicality" as a necessary condition for "meaning") or the genetic epistemology of Piaget within which logicality is deconstructed and re-constructed with respect to biological and sociological substrata.


you still dont get it dean says even piaget views end in meaninglessness
ALLLL VIEWS END IN MEANINGLESSNESS
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU GET IT YET
to say"logicality is a necessary condition" ends in meaninglessness to say "logicality is not a necessary condition" also ends in meaninglessness
0 Replies
 
Coolwhip
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 03:20 am
nightrider wrote:


you still dont get it dean says even piaget views end in meaninglessness
ALLLL VIEWS END IN MEANINGLESSNESS
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU GET IT YET


If you stopped talking about yourself in the third person it might remove some of the crazy that somehow engulfs you.
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 03:55 am
Coolwhip,

We either are dealing with a fool, or a guy with severe problems. He's not here for interactive debate but to reify his delusions of academic prowess which are his answer to the "establishment" which has marginalized him. His "third person tactics" are both a crude defense mechanism for the flak and a method of admiring himself from a distance. Note one of his central claims that " a man is separate from his philosophy"...debatable to say the least !
0 Replies
 
Coolwhip
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 04:06 am
Right, I read this thread and some other ones made by him. Not all that interesting, but very amusing.

One would think normal people would admint defeat when they have to resort to writing in capital letters to make a point. But not nightrider/nightrover/dean, oh no sirree!
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 04:35 am
freco talks about piagets views
dean says they end in meaninglessness-like every view

http://evolution.massey.ac.nz/assign2/LO/piaget.html

Quote:
Much criticism has been aimed at the methodology and sampling on which Piaget based his empirical data and theoretical stances. He used his own children and those of his Genevian colleagues to develop his huge array of concepts about all childrens' cognition. This very small sample - of academic, high socio-economic status and cultural variables, make for the possiblity that his results/data may be unreliable and, at the very least, unrepresentative. Piaget generalized from a tiny sample base, ignored individual differences and prior learning. His experiments were difficult to replicate and artificial, considered too informal and unscientific.
As well, many have criticized Piaget's pessimistic questioning techniques and feel he tried to catch children out in his experiments; i.e. Donaldson in Sutherland, 1992. The use of more optimal language and help is required compared to the traditional teaching styles of Piaget's era. The same source states that he underestimated children's abilities whilst overestimating adult cognition. He is criticized by Hamlyn (1978) in Sutherland for ignoring the value of social learning - in the mother's arms or with teachers, but not as Piaget suggested, in a social vacuum.
Many critics have found fault with his notion of a lockstep progression through the various stages, commenting that more recent studies have discovered discrepancies in the cognitive abilities within any particular child,and between children. They would dispute Piaget's notion of cognitive 'homogeneity' (Sutherland, 1992).



http://www.oikos.org/Piagethom.htm

Quote:
Much of the criticism that has been leveled against Piaget's notion of reflective abstraction, therefore, seems rather hollow to me - at least until someone comes up with an explanation of consciousness that shows Piaget's use of the concept to be mistaken.

Ever since Piaget published his first important works in the 1930s, people have tended to react in different ways. On the one hand, conventional psychologists tried to assimilate his theory to traditional ideas, and in order to do this, they had to disregard whatever did not fit - and the heftiest chunk that could not be fitted into a conventional view was, of course, the constructivist principle that we ourselves build our picture of the world in which we live. Most textbooks of psychology nowadays contain a few pages about Piaget,


also look at
Cognitive Development Today: Piaget and His Critics
By Peter Sutherland

i see dean has plenty of ammunition to send piaget to the meaningless void
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 06:14 am
Those actually interested in Piaget's epistemology (as opposed to the well known methodological criticisms of his developmental psychology) should read "The Principles of Genetic Epistemology" (Tanslated by Wolfe Mays, RKP 1972)

Extensions of Piaget's epistemology with particular reference to language are found in the Santiago Theory of Cognition (Maturana). A useful introductory text with respect this is:

http://www.oikos.org/vonobserv.htm
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 06:33 am
Quote:
Those actually interested in Piaget's epistemology (as opposed to his developmental psychology) should read "The Principles of Genetic Epistemology" (Tanslated by Wolfe Mays, RKP 1972)

Extensions of Piaget's epistemology with particular reference to language are found in the Santiago Theory of Cognition (Maturana). A useful introductory text with respect this is


how about some books criticising piagets epistemology or are you unaware of any
or are you just a one eyed fanatic of him who cannot see his flaws

here is one
Piaget's Logic: A Critique of Genetic Epistemology by Muriel Seltman, Peter Seltman

the naturalistic epistemology recognises the non-reducibility of epistemic norms to empirical facts but insists none the less- that epistemic norms supervene on psychological fact

more ammunicion for dean to send piaget to the meaninglessness void

my comment about philosophy being ideology seems very true in your case

any one who things so much is as some one said imprisioned in their rationality
they must have experienced some trauma to be so preoccupied with thinking out systems-some mental disturbance-winnicott the psychoanylist argued thinking was due to trauma
freud even called it epistemophila - driven by an infantile voyuerism

so people why you going to waste your time studying plowing through this guys volumouse tomes to expolore his fetish or neurouses let alone to discover what dean says ie he ends in meaninglessness any way
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 07:13 am
Dean,

You've certainly got good eyesight to read that abstract up to the bit which suited you. I note that Piaget's work on an "alternative logic" was conveniently skipped.....And by the way I've just noticed with some hilarity that your second cut+paste box in the previous post was largely supportive of Piaget...a point which seems to have escaped you.

The significance of Piaget (warts and all) is in the paradigmatic analysis of
of language as "action" and the subservient status of binary logic with respect to general semantics. My example sentence above (which you signally failed to deal with) illustrates that point irrespective of Piagetian metatheory.

I do not intend to play your purile "infinite regress of language" game...I can play that with my 4 year old niece ! If you have nothing else to do except wallow in your trench, that's your problem.
0 Replies
 
nightrider
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 07:23 am
Quote:
You've certainly got good eyesight to read that abstract up to the bit which suited you. I note that Piaget's work on an "alternative logic" was conveniently skipped.....And by the way I've just noticed with some hilarity that your second cut+paste box in the previous post was largely supportive of Piaget...a point which seems to have escaped you.


it said he worked on a naturalistic logic different from standard logic all his life

when you said
Quote:
As we have discussed before, it was Piaget who first pointed out the futility of "logic" to "explain" cognitive development, since logic was an end product of such a process (for some). The child without a developed sense of logic still makes his world "meaningful" by accommodating to it

what logic are you talking about is it futile-standard logic or naturalistic logic-which looks like he never completed any way
as i said to that quote


Quote:
what does piaget mean by logic
what is his meaning of meaning
Quiine says some where meaning is one of the most slippery words there is
dean at least says what he means by meaninglessness
0 Replies
 
JLNobody
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 12:25 pm
This is all moving too fast for me to keep up with. But I would like to note that Nightrider's deprecation of Nietzsche is contradicted (if I may use the term) by Nietzsche's position that logic has the grave limitation of needing to address only the relations between static "beings" or "sets" of beings (e.g., all A's, B's, X's, Y's), referring always to formal relations between completely abstract constructs (Aristotle's "essences"?) rather than pointing to "objects of experience".
One of Nietzsche's most basic interpretive biases is the Heraclitian realization that all is flux, that instead of a collection of interacting "beings" we actually see only changing or dynamic patterns of interacting " becomings"--i.e., there is only processes and relations, not beings. I resolve the contrast in interpreting the world with regard to structual and functional relations between such dynamic patterns. We use logic to avoid making self-cancelling utterances about observed/interpreted patterns. But logic itself does not point us to empirical discoveries; it only addresses the organization of our utterances. It is texting about texts.
Now Nietzsche would, nevertheless not dismiss the possibility of meaning or meaningfulness. He has been described as affirming life. His Nihilism, i.e., that God is Dead, pertains to absolutism, not to the meaningfulness created by men, a possibility only after he has rejected the absolutism of institutions like the Church. Nietzsche's nihilism served to clean out the mess of historical absolutism in order to empower men to create their own worlds--which is ultimately what the Cultural Animal has always been doing (even when he thinks he has actually "discovered" or had revealed to him received or given objective/absolute Truths from on high.
Therefore, it seems to me that the issue is not whether or not there is meaningfulness, only the question of its nature: absolute and logically or revealed Truth, meanings, values, etc. OR man-made beliefs, interpretations, and perspectives that reflect his needs (material and spiritual). That which IS is transcendental and beyond language and logic.
0 Replies
 
fresco
 
  1  
Reply Tue 21 Aug, 2007 01:02 pm
On the basis of that I must read some more Nietsche.
0 Replies
 
 

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