On some other subjects people do wish to be deceived. They dislike
the operation of correcting the hypothetical data which they have taken as basis.
Therefore, when they begin to see looming ahead some such ridiculous result as
2 + 3 = 7, they shrink into themselves and try to find some process of twisting
the logic, and tinkering the equation, which will make the answer come out a
truism instead of an absurdity; and then they say, “Our hypothetical premiss
is most likely true because the conclusion to which it brings us is obviously and
indisputably true.”
If anyone points out that there seems to be a flaw in the argument, they say,
“You cannot expect to get mathematical certainty in this world,” or “You must
not push logic too far,” or “Everything is more or less compromise,” and so on.
-- Mary Everest Boole