Q&A: Logic, 1+1=2, and Reality
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Logic, 1+1=2, and Reality
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I briefly read a book that claims that all philosophy and logic are actually a kind of psychology.
I wanted to ask whether you think we really do have the ability to know that "1+1=2," and that it is not merely something psychologically imposed on us?
And if we are dealing only with the subordination of linguistic definitions, then why, in your opinion, is there a connection between logic and reality?
Answer
I don't know how one reads a book briefly. Interesting.
Why do you think that something imposed on us is not something we know? It is indeed imposed on us, but by the truth. There is no connection between logic and reality. Logic is a framework that our actual reality also, of course, conforms to.
Thank you, it's done by uploading chapters into AI software. First you ask it to summarize, afterward you ask it to raise its initial objections, and then you discuss them with it. That way, in one hour, you can understand the ideas of an entire book. Even if not in the optimal way.
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As I understand it, you are simply assuming a foundational premise—that the same thing that is imposed on us is also the truth. But is "pure" logic also valid in skeptical arguments? Because that is what those romantics claim.
Why do you assume that the real framework follows that same logic? Maybe only our framework of thought does. Why are you projecting subjectivity onto the world as it is in itself?