(1) The only source of knowledge is empirical experience.
I don’t think so. I am extremely confident that all propositions in the elementary theory of integers are really either True or False, in the Real World. This is probably one of the strongest beliefs I hold, and it’s based entirely on a gut feeling. I don’t think I’m being irrational either.
Not sure. I remember being confused about what a negative number was as a child, but I don’t know where I first heard of them, or when I first perceived their true nature.
What I wanted to do is point out that you found out about integers the same way you found out about everything else, empirically.
But that doesn’t change the fact that statements about integers are (usually) “True or False, in the Real World”, and once you’ve formed the necessary concepts, you don’t need any more sense data to find out new facts about them.
(Edited To Add: I say “usually” just to exclude Grelling-type statements and any other weird cases.)
I don’t think so. I am extremely confident that all propositions in the elementary theory of integers are really either True or False, in the Real World. This is probably one of the strongest beliefs I hold, and it’s based entirely on a gut feeling. I don’t think I’m being irrational either.
So: the truth is out there?
But can you find it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_undecidable_problems
(Rhetorical question:) How did you find out about integers?
Not sure. I remember being confused about what a negative number was as a child, but I don’t know where I first heard of them, or when I first perceived their true nature.
What I wanted to do is point out that you found out about integers the same way you found out about everything else, empirically.
But that doesn’t change the fact that statements about integers are (usually) “True or False, in the Real World”, and once you’ve formed the necessary concepts, you don’t need any more sense data to find out new facts about them.
(Edited To Add: I say “usually” just to exclude Grelling-type statements and any other weird cases.)