explain why 1+1 is 2.
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Let us revive some definitions.
Philosophy: is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Language: Means of communication of experiences, thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
Mathematics: My own attitude, which I share with many of my colleagues, is simply that mathematics is a language. Like English, or Latin, or Chinese, there are certain concepts for which mathematics is particularly well suited: it would be as foolish to attempt to write a love poem in the language of mathematics as to prove the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra using the English language.
---R. L. E. Schwarzenberger.
Now let us take our statement 1+1=2.
To my mind it is a statement in language mathematics used to communicate one of our experiences.
What is that experience? It can be described as follows:
I am sitting in my chair behind an empty table. Then suddenly something is put on my table which I perceive as an object having clear boundaries. It is distinct from all other things I am perceiving. I assign a symbol 1 to this entity. Then suddenly one more, distinct etc, object appears on my table. So I assign again the same symbol 1 to this entity.
Now collectively for both these entities I assign symbol 2. For this collectivism of perception I assign a symbol +.
This whole experience I communicate through a statement 1+1= 2.
Indian philosophy, on the other hand, maintains that all perceived entities are actually manifestations of 1. So everything collectively is represented by 1. This, philosophically again, is a stage subsequent to stage 0 (zero) when there was nothing, which also is the beginning and end of everything.
So, the answer to a question why is 1+1=2 ? is because that is precisely what it is supposed to communicate.
Does it have any philosophical perspective? NO. I don't see any.
Does it have a linguistic perspective? YES. It only has that, IMO.
I am not an expert on these matters. This answer is based on my common sense.
I hope this helps in your quest.
Philosophy: is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Language: Means of communication of experiences, thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
Mathematics: My own attitude, which I share with many of my colleagues, is simply that mathematics is a language. Like English, or Latin, or Chinese, there are certain concepts for which mathematics is particularly well suited: it would be as foolish to attempt to write a love poem in the language of mathematics as to prove the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra using the English language.
---R. L. E. Schwarzenberger.
Now let us take our statement 1+1=2.
To my mind it is a statement in language mathematics used to communicate one of our experiences.
What is that experience? It can be described as follows:
I am sitting in my chair behind an empty table. Then suddenly something is put on my table which I perceive as an object having clear boundaries. It is distinct from all other things I am perceiving. I assign a symbol 1 to this entity. Then suddenly one more, distinct etc, object appears on my table. So I assign again the same symbol 1 to this entity.
Now collectively for both these entities I assign symbol 2. For this collectivism of perception I assign a symbol +.
This whole experience I communicate through a statement 1+1= 2.
Indian philosophy, on the other hand, maintains that all perceived entities are actually manifestations of 1. So everything collectively is represented by 1. This, philosophically again, is a stage subsequent to stage 0 (zero) when there was nothing, which also is the beginning and end of everything.
So, the answer to a question why is 1+1=2 ? is because that is precisely what it is supposed to communicate.
Does it have any philosophical perspective? NO. I don't see any.
Does it have a linguistic perspective? YES. It only has that, IMO.
I am not an expert on these matters. This answer is based on my common sense.
I hope this helps in your quest.
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