Dacyn comments on The two meanings of mathematical terms - Less Wrong

-2 Post author: JamesCole 15 June 2009 02:30PM

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Comment author: Dacyn 01 June 2016 11:15:58PM *  0 points [-]

Why do you think that the axiomatic formulation of ZFC "should have meant an end" to the stance that ZFC makes claims that are epistemologically indefensible? Just because I can formalize a statement does not make that statement true, even if it is consistent. Many people (including me and apparently Eliezer, though I would guess that my views are different from his) do not think that the axioms of ZFC are self-evident truths.

In general, I find the argument for Platonism/the validity of ZFC based on common acceptance to be problematic because I just don't think that most people think about these issues seriously. It is a consensus of convenience and inertia. Also, many mathematicians are not Platonists at all but rather formalists -- and constructivism is closer to formalism than Platonism is.