ANTHROPOLOGY OF MATHEMATICS : INHERENT CULTURE OF NATURE
PAUL W. DIXON *
Division of Social Sciences University of Hawaii at Hilo Hawaii Islands, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This discussion focuses on ethnolinguistic and ethnohistorical description in mathematics and geometry as they are formed by our human intellect and also how they in turn shape ethological practice in, for example, trade, industry, science, and government. The structuralist and philosophical views of Levi-Strauss are fundamental to this discussion.
The central focus of this discussion would be to draw a parallel between our search for essence and for certainty seen in the development of philosophy and religion and as it is also seen in prior and current development of mathematical invention. An investigation of this in traditional folk culture knowledge in myth and metaphysics is seen as a focal point for this ethnohistory. Thus origination in the historical period for our modern development can be shown. The clear reflection between the development of modern algebra in physics as well as cosmology as elements of cultural history, both past and present- thus microcosm and macrocosm reflecting one another, is the central theme of this discussion.
The mathematically based physics of computers and related devices and their ethological and consequently ethnolinguistic effects for the next millennium is thus seen as an essential understanding for the 21st Century, the Century of Anthroplogy.
Keywords: Vedic and Greek Cultures, Mathematical perception, Ethro-history