Are there connections between philosophy, mathematics, and God?

The more I’ve thought about these three concepts, the more I’ve seen the connections between them. To me, philosophy is a ‘thinking-guide’ through the social dilemmas of our interconnected way of living; mathematics serve as a methodology that attempts to define, quantify, measure, and predict the world around us; and God is a representation of a common belief in a higher power considered to be the architect of it all.

  • Philosophy: the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.
  • Mathematics: the abstract science of number, quantity, and space, either as abstract concepts, or as applied to other disciplines such as physics and engineering.
  • God: the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; a superhuman being or spirit worshiped as having power over nature or human fortunes.

The diversity of experiences, perspectives, and realities existing in our A07_Introducing_Fibonacci_Numbersworld adds a level of relativity to our views, and creates a distinction between subjective and objective truth. What makes mathematics interesting is that it’s capable of accurately, reliably and impartially, predicting and calculating different types of phenomena (geometry, for example). I take this as meaning that math can reveal the underlying principles forming the structure of our world, an ability/power that is often only reserved for God.

An example of this is the Fibonacci Sequence.

The Fibonacci Sequence is a series of numbers that starts at zero, and then increases by adding the previous number. For example: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, etc. This numerical pattern is present pervasively, but not universally, in the shape of shells, the number of petals a flower displays, and the distribution of seeds in sunflowers and pine cones. (The commonly believed reason for this is that this is the most efficient way to organize itself)

Along with the Fibonacci Sequence is the Golden Ratio (also known as, Phi). The Golden Ratio is the result of dividing a number in the sequence by the one before it. The further you go in the series, the closer the result gets to Phi. For example, while 5/3 = 1.666 and 13/8 = 1.625, 233/144 = 1.61805, a closer approximation of Phi (Phi is an ‘irrational’ number whose decimal places go on forever).

An illustration of Phi is the following:

suppose you were asked to take a string and cut it. There’s any number of places that you could cut it, and each place would result in different ratios for the length of the small piece to the large piece, and of the large piece to the entire string. There is one unique point, however, at which the ratio of the large piece to the small piece is exactly the same as the ratio of the whole string to the large piece, and at this point the Golden Ratio of both is 1.618 to 1. (source)

Phi’s presence in nature can be seen in the positions and proportions of key dimensions of many, if not most, animals. For example, the body sections of ants and other insects, the wing dimensions and location of eye-like spots on moths, and the position of the dorsal fins on porpoises. The human form is effected by it as well, in the face, body, fingers, teeth and even our DNA. Phi is also thought to affect our perceptions of beauty. art, architecture, as well as areas of design.

Ultimately what I take away from this is that there is a design to our universe, and we’re capable of comprehending it. Who/what is responsible for its construction, is a question for another time. Until then, I stay hopeful that we will be able to understand more about what’s going on around us and how to harmonize our lives with it.

A piece of history worth noting: Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci), first wrote about this sequence in his 1202 book, Liber Abaci. In it he outlines a puzzle regarding how fast rabbits could reproduce in ideal circumstances. It is worth noting that Fibonacci did not actually come up with this puzzle, rather he came across it by studying Indian texts on arithmetic. Nonetheless, the puzzle is as follows:

fibrab

“A certain man had one pair of rabbits together in a certain enclosed place, and one wishes to know how many are created from the pair in one year when it is the nature of them in a single month to bear another pair, and in the second month those born to bear also.”

[Going on to solve and explain the solution]

“Because the above written pair in the first month bore, you will double it; there will be two pairs in one month. One of these, namely the first, bears in the second month, and thus there are in the second month 3 pairs; of these in one month two are pregnant and in the third month 2 pairs of rabbits are born, and thus there are 5 pairs in the month … there will be 144 pairs in this [the tenth] month; to these are added again the 89 pairs that are born in the eleventh month; there will be 233 pairs in this month. To these are still added the 144 pairs that are born in the last month; there will be 377 pairs, and this many pairs are produced from the above written pair in the mentioned place at the end of the one year.

You can indeed see in the margin how we operated, namely that we added the first number to the second, namely the 1 to the 2, and the second to the third, and the third to the fourth and the fourth to the fifth, and thus one after another until we added the tenth to the eleventh, namely the 144 to the 233, and we had the above written sum of rabbits, namely 377, and thus you can in order find it for an unending number of months.”

Resources I found helpful: