Ethics in thought
Gian-Carlo Rota and philosophy
pp. 199-209
in: Ernesto Damiani, Vincenzo Marra, Fabrizio Palombi (eds), From combinatorics to philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 2009Abstract
Discrete Thoughts - Pensieri discreti, where "discreti" means both discrete and discreet: the title announces, with surprising clearness, and simultaneously conceals, with ingenious ambivalence, the gigantic feat Rota intends to perform: "to tell the truth". Although it is, classically, the philosopher's task, telling the truth is proclaimed from the outset as the - difficult/impossible? - enterprise of the mathematician. "In mathematics, as anywhere today, it is becoming more difficult to tell the truth" (Rota, 1986, p. IX): these are the first words of the preface to Discrete Thoughts, and they ring out as a provocation and a challenge that presents itself as particularly difficult due to the complexity of the wealth of knowledge that mathematics represents, but also due to the persistence in the sciences of a reductive conception of truth.
