It is really not true that life without mathematics is nothing. Early men, who hardly knew mathematics were able to lead their lives. Mathematics is the creation of intelligent mind. As we became more intelligent, we started with natural numbers and then moved on to integers and so on. We also invented (or discovered!!) geometry which helped us build large structures like pyramids. Mathematics makes our life simple, especially if you are a scientist or an engineer. Although mathematics is indispensable for modern scientists and engineers, attaching too much significance to it is in bad taste.

Dear Mr. J. Singh,

In common sense, it is obvious, there will be no civilization, since mathematics is one of the primary tools to develop technology, but more philosophically, if there is no mathematics, there will be no life at all, since either there will be no universe or no human minds. This simple answer can be elaborated by two different philosophical thoughts concerning mathematics. In the first view, due to mathematical empiricists like Putnam and Quine , mathematics is inherent and indispensable from physical universe, then it is the precondition of the universe to exist. Such argument, even is not directly related, bring us to the reminiscence of Galileo's famous quotation, that the book called universe is written in the language of mathematics. But not all of philosophers agree with the single unity of mathematics to physical world. They demand that the nature of mathematics is best approached in the context of human mind and its aspects, such as psychology, intuition, and logic. Psychologists, such as J.S. Mill had argued that mathematical concepts are basically psychological, Brouwer and other intuitionists insisted that there is no real objective mathematics, since it is just a constructive products of mental activities. Godel and other platonists even asserted that mathematical entities have their own reality and could exist solely, but I think our life (which is a set of different psychological realities) could not exist without them. It is inconceivable since all we know are just the existences.

Regards.

thanks prof. Fenda Pratama .

@Janamejay Singh:

I suggest a narrowing of the focus of your question. Instead of the term "life", I suggest

What would Science be like without mathematics?

In terms of the revised question, the answer is fairly clear. We need various forms of mathematics to describe and reason about natural phenomena that we observe?

And here is a related question for this thread:

What would Philosophy be like without Mathematics?

The answer to this question is not obvious, since philosophers were doing quite well without resorting to mathematics to explain their Weltanschauung (comprehensive view of the world). Classic examples of philosophers who did not rely on mathematics to express their philosophical views are Aristotle (his Metaphysics), Kant (his critique of pure reason), John Locke, Bishop Berkely, David Hume (their sense scepticism). The classic example of a philosopher who relied on mathematics to express his philosophic points of view is Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Dear Prof. Peters,

Many thanks for your deep suggestion. I think even though most philosophers do not rely themselves on mathematical thoughts, it would be too difficult for them to ignore entirely the existence of significant forms called mathematical ideas beside their philosophical systems: at least they need to make one consideration about it in their own fashions, for examples: Spinoza applied the model of geometric reasoning to express his view of the grand system of the world, although the entities of his philosophy were mostly metaphysical and psychological; Hume, the greatest skeptic among the three British men, regarded that 1+1=2 is true without confirmation of his senses, since mathematics and logic are built on the abstract relation of ideas; Wittgenstein, especially in his early development, believed that all philosophical problems can be solved by systematic analysis of logical structure of the propositions, therefore, we conclude that he mainly relied on logic, which is a part of mathematical ideas, but Godel had shown that in certain subtle aspects, mathematics is not necessarily identical with logic.

Many thanks for your deep suggestion.

with regards.

janamejay singh