Plummeting insect numbers threaten collapse of nature

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My 2¢:

Philosophy of science : a contemporary introduction / Alex Rosenberg. -- 3rd ed.
(Routledge contemporary introductions to philosophy)
1. Science–Philosophy.
© 2012 Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 978-0-415-89176-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-89177-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-80751-4 (ebk)


Philosophy of science is a difficult subject to define in large part because philosophy is difficult to define. But for at least one controversial definition of philosophy, the relation between the sciences—physical, biological, social, and behavioral—and philosophy are so close that philosophy of science must be a central concern of both philosophers and scientists. On this definition, philosophy deals initially with the questions the sciences cannot yet or perhaps can never answer, and with the further questions of why the sciences cannot answer these questions

When I taught Technical Mathematics, I placed a special emphasis on the question of the existence of numbers, expressed in the following; Mathematics deals with numbers, but it cannot answer the question what a number is. Note that this is not the question what “2” or “dos’ or “II” or “10(base 2)” is. Each of these is a numeral, an inscription, a bit of writing, and they all name the same thing: the number 2. When we ask what a number is, our question is not about the symbol (written or spoken), but apparently about the thing. Philosophers have been offering different answers to this question at least since Plato held that numbers were particular things—albeit, abstract things not located in space and time. By contrast with Plato, other philosophers have held that mathematical truths are not about abstract entities and relations between them, but are made true by facts about concrete things in the universe, and reflect the uses to which we put mathematical expressions. But 2,500 years after Plato lived, there is as yet no general agreement on the right answer to the question of what numbers are.

I taught technical mathematics to students preparing to engage in measurement of/with/on/etc physical objects/materials/etc. I could convey this utility with measurable success while acknowledging the aforementioned.

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1¢