Hi. I’m Jeff Morton. I am a mathematician with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside, and currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Western Ontario. You can read more about my research and background at my website there.
I’ve been interested in mathematics, physics, and philosophy - in some form or another - for as long as I can remember. In fact, I’m curious about nearly everything humans have discovered about and contributed to the world we live in: history, astronomy, biology, religion, politics, literature… I also read a lot, write some science fiction, have made music, and so on.
But this blog is part of the public face of me as a mathematician, beginning a career as a researcher and teacher. I became a mathematician because of all the things I’ve learned about, mathematics comes closest to being a really universal body of facts that enter into everything we learn and discover. Mathematics can be a bridge between the empirical sciences - especially physics, in some ways my favourite - and the ideal world of ideas and philosophy. It’s the vehicle for how I try to understand what’s secretly going on all around.
September 30, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Congrats on the blog. I’m in my last year as an undergrad in Mathematics at Portland State University. And I plan to continue there as a grad student.
While I’m not (by any means) the greatest mind on the planet, what mind I do have seems to be quite in line with yours on the interesting connections between Mathematics and Philosophy.
Mathematics is possibly the ultimate form of Philosophy.
For me, it’s the connection between mathematical order and political and moral philosophy. We as a species have always been hell-bent on imposing the kind of order we attribute to Math on society at large. I am not making a value judgment there. But, the way our minds work is interesting. We’re so chaotic, an overgrown chimp out of it’s league, and yet, math is something that came from us. Amazing.
Welcome to the Blogo-hyper-sphere. But, beware … blogging is highly addictive!
PS. I have heard that Ontario is a great.