♥ Jack of Hearts
the teleological family
The Argument from the Applicability of Mathematics
Johannes Kepler
Harmonices Mundi (The Harmony of the World)
DemonstrativeConcludes that something exists.
- Argument form
- Modus ponens (P3 is the bridging universal; P1–P2 instantiate it)
- Concludes to
- Intelligent agent (one mind that supplied the pattern for world and intellect)
- Premise ground
- Metaphysical (what mind holds unlearned and world exhibits untaught share one pattern)
- Modal strength
- Actual
- What it licenses
- Period
- Seventeenth Century (1619)
- Tradition
- Platonist (Christian)
Further reading
- Source text, public domain
Harmonices MundiIoannis Keppleri harmonices mundi libri V.pdf - A scholarly account
Read an exposition of the argument - A principal objection
Read the objection in full
This formulation is ours, composed from the primary source and compressed to fit the card; the argument admits of other statements. Objections have been made to every argument in the deck; where one is linked above, it is chosen by us, not written by us.
ergocards.com/mathematics
© 2026 Athens & Jerusalem. All rights reserved.