A sufficiently intelligent Cartesian skeptic could derive all of mathematics in solitude...
I don't know whether this is true or not; arguments could (and have) been made that such a skeptic could not exist in a non-empirical void. But that's a bit offtopic, as I still have a problem with your previous sentence:
I mean to assert that mathematics is independent of empirical fact ... and therefore non-social.
Are you asserting that all things which are "dependent on empirical fact" are "social" ? In this case, you must be using the word "social" in a different way than I am.
If we lived in a culture where belief in will-powered flight was the norm, and where everyone agreed that willing yourself to fly was really awesome and practically a moral imperative... then people would still plunge to their deaths upon stepping off of skyscraper roofs.
I don't know whether this is true or not; arguments could (and have) been made that such a skeptic could not exist in a non-empirical void.
:) It is the case that the coherence of the idea of the Cartesian skeptic is basically what we are debating.
I'm specifically asserting that things that are independent of empirical facts are non-social.
I think that things that are subject to empirical fact are actually subject to social mediation, but that isn't a consequence of my previous statement.
What does rejection of the assertion "If you think you ca...
Here's the new thread for posting quotes, with the usual rules: