Notes on the civil applications of mathematics

Mathematics derives its meaning from its civil applications. It enters civil-life as a response to requests for conceptual control in the domination of nature. It is incorporated in a technical cognitive interest. An interesting question arises as to whether mathematics can be related to knowledge-constitutive interests concerned with emancipation. Some of the dangers of a technical-context mathematics entering emancipatory language-games are pointed out. Atkin's contributions to mathematical sociology are examined critically. He offers a piece of mathematics suitable for modelling deprivations as objects of reflection in the social life-world. The way this can enter emancipatory language-games presupposes a consensus theory of truth and a theory of communicative competence.