Prolegomena to Embodied Knowledge
There is a debate about whether mathematics is created or discovered. The issues uncovered by this debate are the prolegomena (προλεγόμενα)—the “pre-sayings” we need before we can speak seriously about embodied mathematics. If mathematics is mainly discovered, then it looks like a mind-independent structure we gradually uncover. If it is created, then it looks like a human practice: a way of stabilizing patterns through perception, action, representation, and agreement. Either way, the debate forces a key question for embodied mathematics: even if mathematical structure is “out there,” how does it become thinkable for creatures like us? Popular culture makes the contrast vivid. In the movie Arrival (2016), is about first contact with aliens. For the depths of inter-gallactic space, twelve massive oblong shaped ships effortlessly hover in locations distributed around the globe. Occasionally they emit undistinct sounds. The central challenge is not a universal constant but a problem of s...