What is truth?

Curt Godel, the famous mathematician, showed that in any sufficiently complex system of mathematics, there are statements that are true in the sense that they work and describe a pattern of nature that is consistent, but that cannot actually be proved mathematically using the internal logic of the axioms involved.

So, my question is, how can we know that mathematics really describes reality and that reality may simply be a construct that human beings invent on order to stay alive? In other words, more or less "subjective" representations of the way evolution has shaped our perceptions?

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  • You wouldn’t, no. But my point is that while it might be true for the person in love, it’s purely a subjective experience and not something that can be captured by any mathematical model. 

    This goes to show that "truth" can have different meanings for different people. And in a way, it supports Godel's idea that there will always be some truths that cannot be mathematically expressed, at least in the foreseeable future.

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