math class

[" George Snedeker" <snedeker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louis wrote an interesting message on his math class at the Brecht Forum.
math is important. it helps us in the control over nature. on the down side,
it also helps capital control us all. math helped Galileo understand the
earth was not the center of the universe. however, he also used his
mathematical knowledge to understand how to make cannon balls fly further.

when I read  a social science book that has complex mathematical
calculations, I put it back on the shelf and pick another. I am not sure
that math is all that helpful in our understanding of the social world. the
natural world is another story. people will now feel free to call me both
antiscientific and antimathematical. so be it. Marx's own uses of
calculations in Capital were illustrative and not very complex. this does
not mean that he did not think that math and the natural Sciences were not
important.

as a final note, I once gave a lecture at the Brecht Forum on Lukacs's
critique of bourgeois irrationalism. 30 people actually came. it was fun.