The Infinite and the Finite

[GrandMinnow]

Yes, some mathematicians have the wrong idea about infinity.  However, that does not change the point that when properly understood, the mathematical concept of infinity is exactly as stated.

 

I don't begrudge you having your own notion of mathematics (shared by a fair number of other people, Objectivists in general, and even certain mathematicians); my only point was that when you say that infinity is treated in mathematics as you describe, then you're not referring to mathematics as generally practiced (not just by "some" mathematicians but pretty much by the overwhelming majority of them). It's as if I said (just making up a flip example here), "In chemistry, the main table of elements is organized by the continents in which the elements were each first discovered." I am entitled to such a notion of the elements, but it is not the way people who actually study chemistry generally view the matter, in which sense it invites misunderstanding for me to say that this is the way it is in "chemistry". 

[Guest Math Bot]

I don't begrudge you having your own notion of mathematics (shared by a fair number of other people, Objectivists in general, and even certain mathematicians); my only point was that when you say that infinity is treated in mathematics as you describe, then you're not referring to mathematics as generally practiced (not just by "some" mathematicians but pretty much by the overwhelming majority of them). It's as if I said (just making up a flip example here), "In chemistry, the main table of elements is organized by the continents in which the elements were each first discovered." I am entitled to such a notion of the elements, but it is not the way people who actually study chemistry generally view the matter, in which sense it invites misunderstanding for me to say that this is the way it is in "chemistry". 

 

 

Nonsense.  It is called a rational understanding of mathematical concepts.