Erudite Relics of Loc Huu Ho

Definitions

• adept: is an individual identified as having attained a specific level of knowledge, skill, or aptitude in doctrines relevant to a particular author or organization
• axiomatic: evident without proof or argument; of or pertaining to an axiom; obvious (layman)
  
• exegetical: related to an exegesis, which is the interpretation and understanding of a text on the basis of the text itself
• gnomon: pronounced NO-mon, a Greek word meaning “the one who knows.” The gnomon is the pointer on a sundial, the part of the sundial that “knows” the time
• interlocutor: a person who takes part in a conversation
• par excellence: being the best of its kind; being a quintessential example of the kind in question
• truth-value: a proposition
  

Definitions

• rationalism: platonism; branch of philosophy which emphasizes reason or intellect, rather than observation or sensory perception, as the basis for knowledge and truth.
• secular: of or relating to the doctrine that rejects religion and religious considerations

Notes

• The problems that occupied mathematicians for centuries, culminating more than 2,000 years later with the result that there are no solutions-the tasks to obtain exact solutions are impossible.
• Thomas Kuhn’s influential Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1970) speaks of revolutions and ‘paradigm shifts’ that make it difficult to understand scientific works of the past. I.e., to understand previous work we have to unlearn our current science and try to immerse ourselves in the overturned world-view.
• However, there’s an exception of this when mathematics is concerned. A contemporary mathematicians does not have to do much (if any) conceptual retooling in order to read and admire Euclid’s Elements.
• Plato stands at the head of a long tradition in philosophy sometimes called rationalism or ‘Platonism’