Kim-Ee Yeoh comments my reading suggestion:
"Indiscrete Thoughts" by Gian-Carlo Rota, published by Birkhäuser
in 1997. Available on the Web. [I forgot where]
I'm rather fond of Rota's two volumes of musings. For the purpose of
furthering the quality of philosophizing, would it not be better
served citing the relevant chapters, if not the actual page numbers?
As you took note, the book covers a swathe of topics.
Shall I also give the line numbers, Kim-Ee? The book of Rota is divided
into parts and chapters, with titles. It is not so difficult to find
quickly that something may (or not) interest you. What is a "relevant"
chapter in a collection of philosophical essays?
You might skip the "biographies" of some mathematicians, with some
unpleasant fragments, if you are not interested.
I liked a few others.
Part II, Ch. VII: "The Pernicious Influence of Mathematics Upon
Philosophy" is an inspired attack addressed at the "analytical
philosophers" who felt really offended! (This is a reprint from the
Journal of Metaphysics, published also in the book "18 Unconventional
Essays on the Nature of Mathematics", Springer, ed. by Reuben Hersh. I
also recommend it [also on the Web], it is plenty of serious wisdom,
although sometimes hard to read.)
This chapter deals with the non-philosophical essence of logic, with the
"philosophical vacuity" of formal definitions. Very inspiring.
For Rota the question of IDENTITY is more important than that of
EXISTENCE. The chapter XII: "Syntax, Semantics, and the Problem of the
Identity of Mathematical Items" (p. 151) begins his presentation of the
subject, which continues later. Rota exposes some reasoning based on
his favourite philosophical topic, the phenomenology, continuing
previous sections. This may not convince you (e.g. if you are an
orthodox materialist...), but you might learn something.
The chapter about /Fundierung/ (XV, p. 172) in which Rota fights against
the reductionism, may give you a headache. But you should survive.
Anyway, /a ciascuno il suo/.
Jerzy K.
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