The numbers of the worlds

Abstract

Building upon affinities between mathematics, discourse, and other manifestations of our culture, we try to show that: (1) Disciplines, by themselves, are not able to tackle the questions they set to themselves. In order to do so, they demand the collaboration of other knowledge bodies, which are in the scope of different disciplines. Thus, there are no “pure” entities, wholly conceived inside a discipline. (2) Modes of thought configure themselves from historical conjunctures, in the flux of events of a particular time and place. The concepts enunciated in different disciplines spring from these modes of thought. Once they are expressed in disciplinary jargon, such concepts do not reveal their situated character, independent of disciplinary boundaries. From these insights we suggest an “un-disciplinary” reading of what is called mathematical.