#28 (C&R Series, Ch. 9) - Why is Logic Applicable to Reality?

Jul 19, 2021

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INSIGHT

Logic as Human Creation

Logic and natural numbers are human-created tools designed to fit reality by discarding unusable systems.
They exist as a form of language, not as eternal, independent entities.

INSIGHT

Limits of Logic and Math

Logic and mathematics fail to adequately describe subjective experience and mental phenomena.
This failure shows these tools don't universally apply, dissolving the 'spooky' sense of their transcendence.

INSIGHT

Logic Isn't Mandatory Thought

Logical rules do not normatively compel thought; fiction often breaks logical laws without being immoral or stupid.
Logic prescribes how to think for truth, but breaking logic can inspire scientific discovery or storytelling.

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Why do logic and mathematics work so well in the world? Why do they seem to describe reality? Why do they they enable us to design circuit boards, build airplanes, and listen remotely to handsome and charming podcast hosts who rarely go off topic?

To answer these questions, we dive into Chapter 9 of Conjectures and Refutations: Why are the Calculi of Logic and Arithmetic Applicable to Reality?.

But before we get to that, we touch on some of the good stuff: evolutionary psychology, cunnilingus, and why Robin is better than Batman.

References:

Conjectures and Refutations, Chapter 9: Why are the Calculi of Logic and Arithmetic Applicable to Reality? https://books.google.ca/books?id=iXp9AwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Ben on Do Explain with Christofer Lovgren
Debate between Spelke and Pinker
Very Bad Wizards discussing the paper "Oral Sex as Infidelity detection" (episode, paper).
Sturgeon's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law#:~:text=Sturgeon%27s%20law%20(or%20Sturgeon%27s%20revelation,science%20fiction%20author%20and%20critic.
Eugene Wigner's paper The Unreasonable Effective of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences.
Stoic versus Aristotelian logic. Here is a nice discussion of the differences between the two.
Rob Wiblin's tweet that all probabilities are subjective probabilities (in an otherwise very good thread).
Buhler's three functions of language: (i) Expressive, (ii) Signaling, and (iii) Descriptive. See the "Organon Model".
Piece on Brett Weinstein and Ivermectin.

Quotes:

“The indescribable world I have in mind is, of course, the world I have ‘in my mind’—the world which most psychologists (except the behaviourists) attempt to describe, somewhat unsuccessfully, with the help of what is nothing but a host of metaphors taken from the languages of physics, of biology, and of social life.”

“In so far as a calculus is applied to reality, it loses the character of a logical calculus and becomes a descriptive theory which may be empirically refutable; and in so far as it is treated as irrefutable, i.e. as a system of logically true formulae, rather than a descriptive scientiﬁc theory, it is not applied to reality.”

Send us the most bizarre use of evolutionary psychology you've seen at incrementspodcast@gmail.com.

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