Post #439

Mathematicians are therefore mystified by the spectacle of philosophers pretending to re-inject philosophical sense into the language of mathematical logic. A hygienic cleansing of every trace of philosophical reference had been the price of admission of logic into the mathematical fold. Mathematical logic is now just another branch of mathematics, like topology and probability. The philosophical aspects of mathematical logic are qualitatively no different from the philosophical aspects of topology or the theory of functions, aside from a curious terminology which, by chance, goes back to the Middle Ages. The fake philosophical terminology of mathematical logic has misled philosophers into believing that mathematical logic deals with the truth in the philosophical sense. But this is a mistake. Mathematical logic deals not with the truth but only with the game of truth. The snobbish symbol-dropping found nowadays in philosophical papers raises eyebrows among mathematicians, like someone paying his grocery bill with Monopoly money.