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THE_DOCTRINE_OF_POSTULATES

                                             September 29, 2019
                                                
   There's a doctrine underlying the practice   
   of Modern Mathematics:                       
                                                
   You start out with a small set of postulates,
   and derive everything logically from them.          SIMON_ARTIFICIAL
                                                
   The choice of these postulates is made for reasons
   not considered by this doctrine-- and part of the       At least, that's
   doctrine is that you're not supposed worry about        what Russell says
   whether the postulates are correct.                     in some places.
                                                           Really, they're
   But reducing the number of postulates to a              trying to derive
   minimal set is regarded as a desireable goal            things they
                                                           already regard as
                           (Minimal *for what* would       correct.  Being
                           seem to be the question).       able to get to
                                                           the right place
   When this abstract logical game is in need of           from the starting
   justification, typically the practical application      points is
   of some of the resulting material is cited.             effectively the
                                                           truth critereon.
      An interesting variant is Bertrand Russell who
      insisted that math should be done for its own          FOUND_MATH
      sake, in pursuit of its austere beauty.   
                                                
                          A_BEAUTY_COLD_AND_AUSTERE
                                                
   Practical concerns are however not allowed to intervene
   in the choice of initial postulates or the course of
   the applied reasoning.  That would interfere with it's
   purity.                                      
                                                
                                                
       You might think of all of this as          
       a set of meta-postulates, a             The mathematicians don't look    
       collection of rules about how           at it that way-- if they then 
       you're going to generate rules.         did, then they might have to 
                                               consider the possibility of     
       I've been calling this a                alternative meta-postulates. 
       "doctrine", but Mathematicians           
       are so insistent on this you                 
       might as well call it a                      
       "dogma".  It's essentially the               
       official religion of the field.              
                                                   
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
                                                    
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