This relates to that analysis of mechanism where a person discovers a machine/or/device and tries to analyze it without guessing its purpose....he would describe it in lawful language.
The new point is that engineering (techne/ars in Greek/Latin) is able to use nature for achieving human purposes precisely by thinking of nature as an instrument. In order to give a supervening purpose to nature, it must describe it in a manner that is, in a sense, ateleological. And that language is naturally mathematical. A cook counts how many eggs; a cosmetologist talks about hair length, a farmer talks in geometrical language about how to plow the field.
Could we include hypothetical reasoning w/ mathematical?
That's probably not 100% on target, but I do think I'm on to something...
The new point is that engineering (techne/ars in Greek/Latin) is able to use nature for achieving human purposes precisely by thinking of nature as an instrument. In order to give a supervening purpose to nature, it must describe it in a manner that is, in a sense, ateleological. And that language is naturally mathematical. A cook counts how many eggs; a cosmetologist talks about hair length, a farmer talks in geometrical language about how to plow the field.
Could we include hypothetical reasoning w/ mathematical?
That's probably not 100% on target, but I do think I'm on to something...
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