![]() ![]() The aesthetic aims at nothing practical, nothing beyond itself. Hardy is acutely aware that an aesthetic, that is, a specific criterion or set of criteria, is that which is valuable for itself, and for no other reason. Most creative artists, I imagine, feel similarly. Hardy is therefore wary of going over the line from an ‘apologia’, that is, an explanation, to a defense, lest his should offend his colleagues. ![]() Mathematicians could care less about their reputations outside of mathematics. And he has a point: either one gets the aesthetics of mathematics or one doesn’t. ![]() Mathematicians, after all, do mathematics, they don’t write about doing mathematics. It seems to him vaguely disloyal and a possible waste of time. Hardy, like many poets and artists as well as other mathematicians, is hesitant about his exposition of the aesthetics of mathematics. Aesthetics, while not unique to mathematics, is arguably more single-mindedly applied in mathematics than in any other human activity, including art of all kinds. Aesthetics, the study of what is inherently important and valuable, is for Hardy the fundamental power of mathematics, not an incidental result of correct thought. The dominant theme of A Mathematician’s Apology, established from the first page, is one of aesthetics. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |