Mathematics is associated with abstraction, generality and
simplicity whereas reality is associated with specificity and complexity.
Because of this, it might be argued, the humanities disciplines are better than
mathematics at providing accounts of the history of societies and the lives of
individuals. The aim here is to counter this argument by presenting mathematical
accounts of specific complex social realities. This is in accord with recent
appeals to peace scientists to engage with scholars in history and other
humanities disciplines. The core idea is that a specific complex reality is an
instance of an abstract complex mathematical structure. This idea is elaborated
in (1) below and in a section of (2). In
(1) it is noted that types (in philosophy), time, space, books, poems, plays, the
Bible, songs, music, dances, concertos, concerts have the structure of a
partition hierarchy. In (2) the structure of Shakespeare’s play, ‘A Midsummer Night’s
Dream’, is discussed. In (3) the structure of Wordsworth’s poem, ‘The Daffodils’,
is discussed. (2) A foundational mathematical account of a specificcomplex social reality: conflict in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (PP1) Note that both (2) and (3) are also of interest to a
consideration of lives and histories – see Lives and histories - mathematical
accounts. |