131
You vs the guy she tells you not to worry about
(thelemmy.club)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
131 points (99.2% liked)
Chapotraphouse
14333 readers
784 users here now
Banned? DM Wmill to appeal.
No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer
Slop posts go in c/slop. Don't post low-hanging fruit here.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Do you think so?
I'm friends with a well regarded mathematician who is deeply into philosophy. There's huge overlap with set theory and logic etc. I found studying philosophy to synergise with my STEM degree really well. It's a shame more people don't study it because you can be a complete humanities denying hypernerd and still find a niche if you enjoy thinking and argumentation (curtis yarvin I'm looking past you at peter singer etc)
Could easily be a different explained by differences in historically dominant schools of philosophical focus in different regions, or any other number of things, but I would think a lot of theoretical mathematicians are effectively operating in a space right adjacent to or overlapping philosophy and metaphysics.
I can absolutely agree with that if you are staying well away from continental philosophy. Otherwise, your strict logical theory really stops at Kant (unless you consider Smith, Marx or Engles philosophers, which, perhaps). But really, fuck Bertrand Russel and all his bullshit.
I sometimes forget that logic and set theory is technically part of the philosophical canon visavis the Greeks, even though it was literally the part of my philosophy minor I did the best in. But yes, I suppose that is a natural path.
Idk though, I always had a teacher who would watch the PhD students try to use a new lemma they created on a philosophical problem, just sigh, roll his eyes, and go "This is logic problem, not philosophy."
Edit: I also agree that STEM and the humanities go hand in hand. Engineering students in particular could use alot more exposure to actual philosophy, would probably stop them from being impressed by mid-wits like Lex Friedman.
uh yeah, very much so. and the fields of philosophy, math, physics, computer science continued to be deeply intertwined well into the 20th century. so I consider Godel and Church to be philosophers too. possibly Einstein, since most of the great debate in physics at the time were fundamentally philosophical debates. it's really infortunate that this strict separation and hyperspecializstion has become the norm nowadays. probably why physics hasn't produced any major discoveries / paradigm shifts in a century.
I learned about Z-F set theory and the logical foundations of mathematics in a philosophy class while I was pursuing a math degree, found it super helpful for later topics in math like advanced logic. the prof was one of the last members of the old guard, straddling the STEM-humanities divide. he had studied under one of the great polymath (interdisciplinary?) figures of the 20th century, and was himself an expert in a handful of fields that to me seemed unrelated. I would go on to be a huge nerd in many of these fields and learn the importance of breadth of knowledge.
even worse than engineers who think learning to read is below them is all the scientists who don't know the first thing about the philosophy of science.