Action and Ethics

Much philosophy of action has focused on what could be called individual or collective actions. One can, however, also consider structural actions, which need not be deliberately performed by any individual, team, group, or institution. Structural actions can be extremely powerful and have a profound and also devastating social impact. In this chapter I am going to elaborate on the performative interpretation of mathematics by relating mathematics to individual, collective, as well as structural actions. A variety of different consequences can be brought about by actions, and so these actions need to be critically addressed. I see critique of action as being an ethical endeavour. Logical positivism has insisted on the existence of a sharp distinction between, on the one hand, mathematics and science, and, on the other hand, ethics. Logical positivism inserts mathematics and science into an ethical vacuum. A critical philosophy of mathematics opposes the elimination of ethics from mathematics, and highlights that mathematics is involved in all spheres of life, including the formation of wonders as well as of horrors. This brings mathematics face to face with an ethical challenge.