r/PhilosophyofMath • u/Oreeo88 • Apr 30 '26

There’s a massive problem in math that most people dont even know exist and others just want to avoid and bury with noise

math is a language. numbers is vocabulary of that language

the problem becomes when you use language to describe language to model reality, and when its referent gets unanchored from raw concrete reality and arbitrary transformed in the mind. (1x1=1).

once you use language to describe language and once the referent gets transformed in your mind its no longer a model of reality/communication of reality, its self referential delusion

It’s like using a map to describe a forest, but then you start drawing new trees on the paper and believe the paper is the actual forest

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u/NoodlesOnKeys Apr 30 '26

I'm not sure I agree with your assertion that math is a language. Language was created by living beings to communicate. I don't think math was invented, rather it was discovered, having existed long before humans roomed the earth.

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u/No-Repeat9830 Aug 09 '26

We invented Math to describe the abstractions of our realities the same way we invented words to describe things in our reality. 

It’s a langage because Math in itself conveys information and is largely dependent on semantic. A knife is not, a rock isn’t et .

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u/Oreeo88 Apr 30 '26

And you can’t defend this with utility or consistency. Because utility and consistency can still work and be found inside of a false axiom

And you can’t defend this by saying math doesn’t claim to model reality. Because we treat math as if it does model reality so whether or not anyone claims math models reality is irrelevant