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Commentary on Pascal
"The reason, therefore, that some intuitive minds are not
mathematical is that they cannot at all turn their attention to the principles of mathematics. But the reason that mathematicians are not intuitive is that they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to the exact and plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till they have well inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost in matters of intuition where the principles do not allow of such arrangement. They are scarcely seen; they are felt rather than seen; there is the greatest difficulty in making them felt by those who do not of themselves perceive them. These principles are so fine and so numerous that a very delicate and very clear sense is needed to perceive them, and to judge rightly and justly when they are perceived, without for the most part being able to demonstrate them in order as in mathematics, because the principles are not known to us in the same way, and because it would be an endless matter to undertake it. We must see the matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process of reasoning, at least to a certain degree. And thus it is rare that mathematicians are intuitive and that men of intuition are mathematicians, because mathematicians wish to treat matters of intuition mathematically and make themselves ridiculous, wishing to begin with definitions and then with axioms, which is not the way to proceed in this kind of reasoning. Not that the mind does not do so, but it does it tacitly, naturally, and without technical rules; for the expression of it is beyond all men, and only a few can feel it." Pascal , Pensees http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl3...a.html#SECTION I This is timely as it gets to the heart of creativity,somebody of the stature of Beethoven does not add one note to the next note i n order to create a composition but sees the outlines of a work ,builds and rebuilds until the finished work takes form,he even wrote so himself - "I carry my thoughts about with me for a long time... before writing them down... once I have grasped a theme. I shall not forget it even years later. I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied; then, in my head... [the work] rises, it grows, I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle... and only the labor of writing it down remains... I turn my ideas into tones that resound, roar, and rage until at last they stand before me in the form of notes." Beethoven The structure of the human timekeeping system in tandem with planetary dynamics is balanced in such a way that a person may glimpse one facet of the scheme before applying it to another side,for instance,the additional extra day of Feb 29th aids understanding of the proportion of rotations for each orbital circuit which in turn helps aid understanding of the natural noon cycle and from there to the 24 hour cycle. An astronomer takes immense satisfaction from moving between levels and topics and there are so many,like an never ending musical composition that delights each time it builds and rebuilds. Newton was only a young man when Pascal noted the problem of mathematicians trying to define everything when it is impossible to do so and when you decide to define time,space and motion for everyone and the followers run berserk with these things,they we have the current tragedy where nothing is getting done. The incalcitrant behavior of observers ,at least from my perspective,is the unwillingness or the inability to undo the damage caused by creating an artificial platform of axioms and definitions which as not just spurious but simply ridiculous.Is there one person that needs time,space and motion defined for them,if they do then they do not belong anywhere near astronomy and so it is with empiricists who have spent an entire century making a fuss over absolute/relative time,space and motion. An astronomer and certainly a creative one,works like Beethoven in not being afraid but to venture into the stormy seas of Christian thought and deed. |
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Commentary on Pascal
On Jun 23, 12:46*pm, oriel36 wrote:
The incalcitrant behavior of observers ,at least from my perspective... You have shown us countless times over that you have not the slightest concept of perspective at all... |
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