Hi WWTaylor
But if the truth be known, Aristotle's the last guy you want running the engineering department, since he thought that mathematics, dealing only with accidental (and not essential)properties of the real world, was useless in our quest for truth.
Now we know why the math scores in our schools suck!
That 'discovery' aside, isn't math the only 'science' where
truthvalue of a statement can be established in absolute
terms ? Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, etc. are
mostly concerned with the 'probabibility' of being right.
Empirical, in other words. Which may be good enough for
day to day works (like 0.999 gold, or the usefulness of
the MMR shot).
This quest for truth also made maths more like religious
studies. Anther pure branch of learning was music. In the
olden days, pre-industrial revolution era, the scholar
knew or appreciated at least these three branches of learning.
I hope this help answer the original question, whatever it
was ::-)
-Dinesh |
