Abstract
This paper revisits philosophical questions regarding the relationship between mathematics and matter. I briefly present four contrary and contemporary perspectives on the speculative force of mathematics, as a provocation for further discussion on the subject of sciento-metrics. I first consider the ideas of the philosopher Quentin Meillassoux, as a way of setting the stage for various kinds of materialist philosophies of mathematics. I then turn to the ideas of two mathematicians - Fernando Zalamea and Giuseppe Longo - and a computer scientist - Gregory Chaitin - and explore how their discussions of contemporary mathematical practice offer important insight (and twist) regarding the relationship between mathematics and matter.
Highlights
In 1960 the scientist Eugene Wigner (1902-1995) wrote a controversial paper called “The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences” (Wigner, 1960)
As Jose Ferreirós (2018) points out, Wigner was an important figure in developing effective mathematical methods for quantum physics, which involved shifting from the classical calculus to new algebraic ‘group methods’
The act of measuring is implicated in the findings, but what Drake shows us about this experiment is not that facts are produced through human intervention; he points to the force of time as that which animates matter, and he shows how Galileo plugs into the rhythms of corporeal duration – in all their multiplicity and modulation – in order to perform his experiment. This perspective resonates with other historical accounts of developments in physics and mathematics, such as those discussed by Gilles Châtelet, which has informed my work on sympathetic coordination in mathematical behaviour
Summary
In 1960 the scientist Eugene Wigner (1902-1995) wrote a controversial paper called “The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences” (Wigner, 1960). Wigner’s perspective on “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” seems to have been inspired by the turn to axiomatics and formalist qualitative methods, led by David Hilbert (1862-1943), and perhaps by his involvement in the Manhattan Project, and the development of the Atomic bomb This 20th century mixture of modern algebra, axiomatics, war efforts and quantum science forms the background for his 1960 essay. She demands that we reckon with the way that matter and measurement are part of a metamorphic mixture, open to remixing, reformulating, and altered modes of bodying This ensures that mathematics remains in the world (rather than transcends it) and emphasizes a pluralist new materialist mathematics. I briefly survey these four approaches here, so that we might consider the distinctive ways they pursue the speculative power of mathematics
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