on certainty 43

43. What sort of proposition is this: “We cannot have miscalculated in 12 x 12 = 144”? It must surely be a proposition of logic.

–But now, is it not the same, or doesn’t it come to the same, as the statement 12 x 12 = 144’

the claim – ‘we cannot have miscalculated in …’

is a rhetorical claim –

as is the follow up statement here –

‘it must surely be a proposition of logic’

12 x 12 = 144 –

is a game proposition –

if you follow the instruction that is 12 x 12 = 144 –

you play the game –

the game of sign substitution –

and presumably you do so –

because you have a use for it

and if you actually play the game –

you play it as it as directed –

you play – without question

the concepts behind the proposition –

behind the game –

have  been developed –

in a context of argument and dispute

the ground of any mathematical proposition –

is uncertainty

© greg t. charlton. 2009.