kenneth.mackendrick at utoronto.ca wrote:
>
> The truth is
> out there. 1+1=2. Anyone who understands the content of the equation is
> logically obligated to agree (note that I said logically).
>
Doodling around with mathematics and reality always ends up a mess, & probably what follows is erroneous in some way. But this seems a very poor example of "truth is out there."
Two is what we mean by 1+1. As soon as we take it out of the realm of pure mathematics it isn't exactly true. One peach plus one peach doesn't neatly equal two peaches because the peaches are different, there is no such thing as two peaches except in an arbitrary unity created by the speaker, the second one may spoil before we eat it, etc etc etc.
Carrol