1 + 1= 2 i guess?

1 + 1 = 2

This seems like perhaps the simplest math problem, but I want to postulate that it is actually profound that something like this can even be agreed upon as true. I mean, I suppose the idea that one apple and another apple in a group together would make something that we could describe as two apples seems universal, but this makes several assumptions that must be true in order for it to always be true.

For one, it assumes that truth is consistent across all experiences and that one plus one ALWAYS equals two. If that’s not true then there is no point in observing the rule. But even that is a complicated subject because it’s bizarre the way that experience works in general. On the one hand, there is the idea that everyone’s experience is based on a certain amount of truth because they live in reality and therefore even if they are misguided about things, there was something that existed that caused that person to believe what they do. On the other hand, there is a clear observation that people’s senses can play tricks on them, and beyond that, people’s perceptions of those senses can be wrong, and people’s conclusions made by the mind can be wrong.

But even the very idea that senses can be right or wrong could be challenged. Who is to say that one way of perceiving the world is better than another? (Hang with me, I am getting somewhere with this)

Furthermore, there is also the fact that one’s emotions play a huge role in the way that one perceives things which can also influence and manipulate the way that a person experiences things. And then you also add the fact that previous experience is what forms patterns in our minds that create the fundamental ability to even be able to perceive in the first place, but since everybody’s experience is different, how is there any ability to have a universal perception to declare something like 1 + 1 = 2 to be true?

I am speaking as a postmodern skeptic right now because I think there is something important that they show about the world. If you (like the postmodernist does) throw out all traditional axiomatic statements (statements that cannot be proven true, but must be true in order to have a consistent worldview) you end up in a world where 1 + 1 doesn’t necessarily equal 2. (I am not saying that this itself is an axiom, but that it is based upon several axioms)

Therefore, I believe that there is a natural order to the world that is built on axiomatic truths and that there is a way to find a truth that is not only consistent but also repeatable, and that it is a natural good to want to understand the truth. All of these are assumptions that cannot be truly proven. And all of them are somewhat controversial but important to running a coherent thriving society.

I would argue that they are all taken on in faith, which is typically seen as a religious concept, however, I believe that everyone has faith in something, with faith defined as a fundamental trust in something being true or good even if it cannot be demonstrably proven so.

So my challenge for you today is to think about what informs your perception. What axioms or assumptions do you have that create the way you think about your life? Start asking “Why?” over and over again like an impatient little kid and see where it takes you. And if you end up where you do not want to be, maybe rethink whether what you believe is actually worth believing.

Finally, start having real and curious conversations with people about how they perceive the world. Broaden your horizons.

That is all for now,

Cya!

Caleb Freund

Note: I understand that there are circumstances where 1 + 1 does not equal 2 such as in Boolean algebra or a base-10 system, however, the focus of this blog was not to explore different applications of math, but instead to use this as an analogy for how something so universal cannot necessarily be so accepted at face value.