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The original philosophical foundation of mathematics would be Pythagoreanism [1].

For instance, that there is a special, transcendent meaning to "oneness" or "twoness" — or more generally, that there is a basic harmony within mathematics that manifests in the harmonies of the cosmos.

Here is a nice article on the sources of his mathematical contributions. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0315086089...

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagoras



Trying to find an axiomization of mathamatics and trying to find the metaphysics of mathamatics seem like two very different projects to me.


Hmm, getting to the bottom of axioms feels a lot like metaphysics, but open to why they'd be a different ballpark.


In my mind, metaphysics is asking "why", axioms are asking "how"/"what"


That's fine. It's just that when you get to the very bottom of axioms, it can get a little weird. Like, is the underlying basis the one, the nothing or the all? Is it being or not being? That is metaphysical -- and has implications for the foundation of any axiom, no?


I'm not sure what it even means for the underlying basis to be one or nothing or everything (basis of what specificly?). That doesn't sound like an axiom thing to me.




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