Continuing this post, yet Lakoff said this about set theory, which is built at least in part on the container schema:
"The
same is true of set theory. There are lots and lots of set theories,
each defined by different axioms. You can construct a set theory in
which the Continuum hypothesis is true and a set theory in which it is
false. You can construct a set theory in which sets cannot be members of
themselves and a set theory in which sets can be members of themselves.
It is just a matter of which axioms you choose, and each collection of
axioms defines a different subject matter. Yet each such subject matter
is itself a viable and self-consistent form of mathematics. [...] There
is no one true set theory." (WMCF, 355).
He also explains why the above is not postmodern relativism:
"In
recognizing all the ways that mathematics makes use of cognitive
universals and universal aspects of experience, the theory of embodied
mathematics explicitly rejects any possible claim that mathematics is
arbitrarily shaped by history and culture alone. Indeed, the embodiment
of mathematics accounts for real properties of mathematics that a
radical cultural relativism would deny or ignore: conceptual stability,
stability of inference, precision, consistency, generalizability,
discoverability, calculability, and real utility in describing the
world" (362).
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