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John Mikes wrote: So it is no 'shame' if all
conventional sciences (incl. biology) are deemed reductionistic, we only try to
step ahead one step. Mathematics (IMO) is not, it is a unique ideational world
on its on (some say: a language, but it is much more than that). Applied Math,
however, within the (lately strongly
physicalized) sciences IS reductionistic, since it works in equational fashion
with the limited model assigned (sum-) values, which were already in the time of
Aristotle less then the total. Heisenberg was a genius. I wonder if all this is heretic in RR's words, I feel it is
OK in the sense I caught from his ideas.
There is no way to be a heretic here, because that implies an
orthodoxy-- but I know what you mean. And you can rest assured that his attitude
was very much as you expressed yours to be. Pure mathematics, in its
entirety, is a complex system in its own right, according to "RR". Applied
math, on the other hand, is the equivalent of a model; it is being used to
represent limited aspects of a natural system, which makes it a
reduction.
Judith
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