On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 7:48 AM, Nick Rudnick
<joerg.rudnick@t-online.de> wrote:
IM(H??)O, a really introductive book on category theory still is to be
written -- if category theory is really that fundamental (what I
believe, due to its lifting of restrictions usually implicit at
'orthodox maths'), than it should find a reflection in our every day's
common sense, shouldn't it?
Goldblatt works for me.
* the definition of open/closed sets in topology with the boundary
elements of a closed set to considerable extent regardable as facing to
an «outside» (so that reversing these terms could even appear more
intuitive, or «bordered» instead of closed and «unbordered» instead of
open),
Both have a border, just in different places.
As an example, let's play a little:
Arrows: Arrows are more fundamental than objects, in fact, categories
may be defined with arrows only. Although I like the term arrow (more
than 'morphism'), I intuitively would find the term «reference» less
contradictive with the actual intention, as this term
Arrows don't refer.
Categories: In every day's language, a category is a completely
different thing, without the least
Not necesssarily (for Kantians, Aristoteleans?) If memory serves, MacLane says somewhere that he and Eilenberg picked the term "category" as an explicit play on the same term in philosophy.
In general I find mathematical terminology well-chosen and revealing, if one takes the trouble to do a little digging. If you want to know what terminological chaos really looks like try linguistics.
-g