The meaing of mathematics in Against the Day.....

[Ray Easton]

Joseph Tracy wrote:
> Engelhardt's quote from ATD seems pretty strong Does someone have a 
> page reference?
> I don't know about a crisis" being discussed", but a foundational 
> crisis in science and math is clearly and intentionally reflected in 
> ATD, albeit perhaps more implicit than explicit.  The scene with the 
> sci-mathers on the Vormance Expedition has different metaphoric 
> implications. But one strong interpretation has to be  to see this 
> expedition as a picture of digging into the secrets of  light and 
> energy, and  of subatomic energy bound in the forbidding frozen wastes 
> of the world-transforming realm of math and physics. We are looking at 
> the science that pointed toward nuclear weapons, but also toward 
> relativism in physics  with that relativism implicitly mapping onto 
> ethics, politics etc.  Also  the scientific bickering in the Vormance  
> reflects  debate and the reactionary defense of turf that has to do 
> with questions about the foundations of the scientific enterprise.  
> Maybe the phrase "foundational crisis" means something more than I am 
> understanding, but I found Egelhardt's essay well argued and 
> compatible with my own reading.
>
I make no claims about what foundational questions in physics are or are 
not discussed in AtD.  I am talking about mathematics.

The phrase "foundational crisis" in reference to mathematics does have a 
pretty specific meaning, and the "foundational crisis" has nothing to do 
with any "applications" of mathematics, including physics.  It is 
concerned with the purely theoretical, or philosophical -- specifically 
with the nature of mathematical truth.

BTW, my observation was not meant as a criticism of AtD.  Though I 
loathe AtD, I am not claiming that the lack of a serious discussion of 
"the crisis in mathematics" is a fault.

Ray