Syrah's corner

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

In those years, I was often accompanied by extreme inner tension.

My near-manic passion for certain, absolute knowledge was doubtless more intense by loneliness.

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

I so wish that mathematicians had but a tiny bit of the passion for truth that animates the philosopher.

I 'd turned to Philosophy looking for truth, but also guidance...

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

Mathematics is the last recourse of Reason! We cannot undetermine it with sloppy thinking!

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

- "The Doctor told me the Truth!"
- "Wh....what?"
- "There is something worm-eaten about you since birth! The sins of the father are visited upon the childern!"
- "Ohhh!!! Ghosts! We are all GHOSTS!!!"

With vision came pain.

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

"Studying Philosophy" really means gorging yourself on a stew of every idea imaginable! A platonist thinks appearance is but a bad copy of real reality... while an aristotelian puts all his faith in its observation! Are mental concepts innate or acquired? "Innate", says the great Kant! "Acquired", says the Great Hume! Is there an oposition between mind and matter? Yes, says Descartes! No, says Spinoza...

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

- "The transitions from the category of contradiction shows that the exclusive reflection of the stable oposiztion makes it a negative, and thus the reflection degrades its previous stable of determinations to the level of being only determinations. And since the position has been made position, it has gone back to unity with itsself."

Oh dear!

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

- If only Philosophy had a Euclid! [...] Someone to give it strong foundations and a logically precise language!
- That's exactly what Leibniz did... with his "Calculus Ratiocinator"! [...] Yes! A way to make thinking as clear as Geometry! So clear that when a disagreement arises, we just have to say... "Calculemus!"
- But for that to happen, Logic would have to become an exact Science!
- The struggle has just begun... What Leibniz dreamt of with the "Calculus Ratiocinator", George Boole continued with his "Laws". [...]

My fisrt meeting with Euclid had planted a seed...
...But hearing about Leibniz's dream was the actual calling.
After that day I knew: I was a...
L O G I C I A N !

 

Αν μου επιτρέπεις, DRS, ένα μικρό διάλειμμα στα αποσπάσματα από το εξαιρετικό πραγματικά βιβλίο Logicomix...

"Your scorn for mediocrity blinds you to its vast primitive power. You stand in the glare of your own brilliance, unable to see into the dim corners of the room, to dilate your eyes and see the potential dangers of the mass, the wad of humanity. Even as I tell you this, you cannot quite believe that lesser men, in whatever numbers, can really defeat you. But we are in the age of the mediocre man. He is dull, colorless, boring - but inevitably victorious. The amoeba outlives the tiger because it divides and continues in its immortal monotony. The masses are the final tyrants. See how, in the arts, Kabuki wanes and No withers while popular novels of violence and mindless action swamp the mind of the mass reader. And even in that timid genre, no author dares to produce a genuinely superior man as his hero, for in his rage of shame the mass man will send his yojimbo, the critic, to defend him. The roar of the plodders is inarticulate, but deafening. They have no brain, but they have a thousand arms to grasp and clutch at you, drag you down..."

Shibumi, by Trevanian

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

- The said Boole being the man who has made Logic as clear as Algebra! [...] Don't you remember the Tweedledee's words? "Contrariwise, if it was so, it might be. And if it were so, it would be. But as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic!"

[...]

- Meeeeow.....
- Oh, hi there cheshire cat! Tell me, which way do I have to go from here?
- That depends on where you want to go!
- Hm... I don't much care where I go!
- Then it doesn't really matter which way you go!

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

To understand my predicament, remember that my profound, undelying aim had never changed: to acquire certain knowledge about the world... knowledge which could only come from Science.

- If we unite the healthy parts of mathematics and the conceptual sophistication of the New Logic, we can launch a powerful attack.
- "New"? Logic has not advanced a bit after Boole!
- Sure, it has come a certain way since old Aristotle... but is it strong enough to deal with Mathematics?

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

- Excuse me, is this Prof. Frege's house?
- No, this is his garden! His house is in there!
- Is the Professor at home?
- No, he is in the garden. I am the Professor. Who are you?

[...]

- Women are such illogical creatures. I try to explain the fact to my wife. ... But she cannot understand.

[...]

- So tell me why you are here... what say you of my work? My Begriffsschrift?
- Frankly, I find it difficult going. It's so different from Boole!
- Yes, but my aim is so different! Boole wants a calculating tool. But the aim of Logic is not calculation. It is to model reality!
- It's so surprising to hear a mathematician say that!
- "Surprising"? ... What is surprising about a rational being telling the truth?

[...]

... The ordinary language is not suited in Science! ... Its is good only for the kitchen! ... So in order to undersand reality we must first create a language that is completely logical! [...] Only such a language can deal with the foundations of Mathematics!

[...]

- You are a Centaur Herr Russell: Half mathematician and half philosopher!

 

Doxiadis, Papadimitriou, Papadatos, di Donna (2009), Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth

[...] But there is also another side to Methematics... ... A side you can't sense unless you start thinking of... ... The infinite! A great man once said that no other idea has so inspired the human mind. Maybe so. One thing however is certain... No other idea has so pushed the human mind to the absolute limits of its power! ... And also, no other concept has exposed to a similar extent the inner frailty of mathematical Knowledge!

[...]

- "Open up! You are wanted! The Guardians have sent for you!"
- "What "Guardians"?"
- "The Guardians of... of... Infinity!"

- "Traitor!"
- "Wha.. what have I done?!"
- "YOU MESSED WITH INFINITY! [...] YOU WRECJED THE FOUNDATIONS!"

- Oh...
- Hush, my dear... just a dream.