| Abstract: |
The article explores the dual nature of number and mathematics as both sacred and profane throughout history, tracing their origins from prehistoric spiritual and ritual contexts to modern secular and utilitarian applications. It highlights how early number concepts—zero, one, and infinity—emerged from religious, mystical, and philosophical traditions across diverse cultures, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and ancient civilizations, before being formalized into precise mathematical entities. The text details the evolution of mathematics from sacred practices embedded in cosmology, ritual, and temple administration in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and Greece, to the later bifurcation into “pure” mathematics as an intellectual, quasi-sacred pursuit and “profane” mathematics serving commerce, governance, and technology. In the modern era, profane mathematics has become dominant, underpinning data-driven capitalism, surveillance, and algorithmic control—phenomena described as new “gods” Mammon, Moloch, and Dataism—while the inner sacredness of mathematics persists among practitioners as a form of reverence for mathematical truth. The article concludes by emphasizing the need for ethical reflection on mathematics’ societal roles, given its profound power and ambivalent legacy as both a source of human insight and a tool of control. [Extracted from the article] |
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