Tag Archives: mathematics

Irrational Happiness

Posted on March 17, 2020 by fbenedictus

When I started writing this blogpost a week ago, I wrote this: “When times are as difficult and unpredictable as they are today, I find comfort in mathematics. No matter how things turn out, how many more difficulties come our … Continue reading →

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What Is Mathematics?

Posted on August 4, 2017 by fbenedictus

Mathematics is a language. More specifically, mathematics is the language that scientists use to organise and order observations. For example, physicists may describe falling stones in terms of mathematical concepts like parabolas and perfect spheres and sociologists describe their observations … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy of Mathematics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

PhD Dissertation

Posted on June 8, 2017 by fbenedictus

I have defended my PhD dissertation on 13/07/2017 in Utrecht. Below you can find the documents which have kept me busy for several years: Preface (English) Samenvatting (Nederlands) Gearfetting (Frysk) Complete Dissertation    

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Does Science Describe Reality?

Posted on September 1, 2016 by fbenedictus

In the philosophy of science there is a debate about whether scientific theories tell us what the world is really like, or whether scientific theories are nothing more than ‘tools’ or ‘instruments’ – useful for making predictions, but not for … Continue reading →

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How Natural Is The Natural Logarithm?

Posted on March 7, 2016 by fbenedictus

Why is the natural logarithm called ‘natural’? Continue reading →

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Kant & Modern Physics

Posted on February 29, 2016 by fbenedictus

The part of Kant’s philosophy that I’ll be discussing in this post is Kant’s view on human knowledge. The central idea of Kant is rather straightforward: the world must be such that knowledge is possible. The world, according to Kant, must … Continue reading →

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Probability “0” Is Not Impossibility

Posted on February 26, 2016 by fbenedictus

LAST EDITED: July 20, 2019 “The dart that said zero” The probability that a dart will hit any specific point on a dartboard is zero because there are infinitely many points on the board. And yet if you throw a … Continue reading →

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Probability “1” Is Not Certainty

Posted on February 12, 2016 by fbenedictus

They sometimes say that if you try something very often then you will succeed. Say you play a game of dice and in every round there is a non-zero probability that you’ll win. As the number of rounds you play … Continue reading →

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