“Euclid” must fall: racism, the church, and the axiomatic method (collected resources)

(Keynote Tübingen/Pretoria 13 May 2021. Related articles now online.)
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAP1BcK8mLE
Presentation: http://ckraju.net/papers/presentations/Euclid-must-fall.html
Articles:
Part 1: Racist prejudice and the false history of “Greek” achievements in math and science
Abstract.To eliminate racist prejudices, it is necessary to identify the root cause(s) of racism. American slavery preceded racism, and was closely associated with genocide. Accordingly, we seek the unique cause of the unique event of genocide + slavery. This was initially justified by religious prejudice, rather than colour prejudice. This religious justification was weakened when many Blacks converted to Christianity, after the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The curse of Kam, using quick visual cues to characterize Blacks as inferior Christians, was inadequate. Hence, the church fell back on an ancient trick of using false history as secular justification for Christian superiority. This trick had resulted in a false history of science during the Crusades when scientific knowledge in translated Arabic texts was indiscriminately attributed to the early Greeks, without evidence. This false history enabled belief in religious superiority to mutate into a secular belief in White superiority. After colonialism, and the Aryan race conjecture, the belief in White superiority further mutated into a belief in Western civilizational superiority, openly propagated today by colonial education. Hence, to eliminate racist prejudice, it is necessary to engage simultaneously with the allied prejudices about Christian/White/Western superiority, based on the same false history of science.
Full article at: http://ckraju.net/papers/Tubingen-Pretoria-part-1.pdf
Part 2: The practical failure (and political success) of the axiomatic method (or the church understanding of reason) in math
Abstract. Previously we saw that racist prejudice is supported by false history. The false history of the Greek origins of mathematics is reinforced by a bad philosophy of mathematics. There is no evidence for the existence of Euclid. The “Euclid” book does not contain a single axiomatic proof, as was exposed over a century ago. Such was never the intention of the actual author. The book was brazenly reinterpreted, since axiomatic proof was a church political requirement, and used in church rational theology adopted during the Crusades, as a counter to Islamic rational theology. Deductive proofs are MORE fallible than inductive or empirical proofs. Even a validly proved mathematical theorem, such as the “Pythagorean” theorem (based on Hilbert’s axioms, say), is invalid knowledge in the real world. There is no concept of approximate truth in formal mathematics. Nevertheless, the myth of “superior” axiomatic proofs in the “Euclid” book continues to be reiterated by Western historians, and colonial education teaches axiomatic mathematics. Actually, superior practical value comes from the two “Pythagorean” calculations well known to Indian/Egyptian tradition, but unknown to Greeks. The advantage of related decolonized courses in mathematics has been pedagogically demonstrated. But understanding and political will is needed to change colonial/church education.
Full article at: http://ckraju.net/papers/Tubingen-Pretoria-part-2.pdf
Alternative to current school teaching of Christian chauvinist “Euclid’s” geometry
“Euclidean’ geometry vs Rajju ganita” Bengaluru, 5, 6 June 2021)



Details of workshop: http://ckraju.net/blog/?p=200
Prior reading list: http://ckraju.net/geometry/Reading-list-geometry-rev.pdf.
Presentations: Day 1, Day 2 (space bar moves to the next slide)
Videos: Day 1, Day 2 (2:45:55, and 2:55:59)
School text for class IX: http://ckraju.net/geometry/Rajju%20Ganita%20cover-front-back-r.pdf
See also, Euclid and Jesus: How and why the church changed mathematics and Christianity across two religious wars, Multiversity, Penang, 2012.