Modern society has lost contact with a deeper level of reality governed by unalterable truths, according to philosopher and mathematician James Franklin.
Speaking at the launch of his latest book, The Necessities Underlying Reality, at Australian Catholic University on 5 June, Franklin argued that beneath the facts of history, biography, geography, laws and customs lies a framework of “absolute necessities”.
Franklin, a philosopher, mathematician and occasional contributor to The Catholic Weekly, was joined by Professor Peter Anstey, Director of ACU’s Western Civilisation Program, for a discussion of the book and its implications for philosophy, ethics and public life.
Opening his remarks, Franklin joked that the book was unlikely to become a bestseller.
“Sometimes, a book comes along that captures the spirit of the age,” he said.
“This is not that book.”
Instead, he argued, the ideas explored in the book are closer in spirit to Aristotle and Euclid than to current intellectual fashions.
“We’ve lost contact with the world of necessities and we have to start from scratch,” he said.
Franklin distinguished between contingent truths, meaning facts that could have been otherwise and necessary truths that hold true in every possible world.
“We know many contingent facts, of history and biography, geography and local laws and customs,” he said.
“But beyond those, or deeper than those, is a more basic level of reality where the laws are absolutely necessary.”
The book examines four kinds of necessity: mathematical, ethical, logical, and those concerning the relationship between evidence and conclusions.
Using a simple mathematical example, Franklin illustrated how necessity differs from the “decorative detail” which wrap around them.
Arranging six stars in two rows of three or three columns of two demonstrates that 2 x 3 and 3 x 2 must produce the same result.
“They’re the same stars, therefore 2 x 3 = 3 x 2,” he said.
The same could be said of 4 x 5, or 3 million by 2 million, so that understanding “has given you access to an infinite number of necessary truths.”
Franklin argued that such truths are not merely abstract ideas detached from reality but reveal structures that underlie the world itself.
He compared reality to a building site, where foundations and supporting structures determine what can later be built upon them.
“If you’re creating a world, you have to start with the absolute necessities, which you can’t choose,” he said.
Among the book’s more controversial claims is that ethics possesses the same objectivity as mathematics.
Franklin criticised views of ethics that reduce morality to a set of agreed-upon customs.
“What is the right view of ethics?” he asked.
“It fundamentally isn’t about actions or what to do at all. It’s about what kinds of things have moral worth – what kinds of things matter when something happens to them.”
The discussion later returned to this theme during an audience question-and-answer session, where participants raised questions about bioethics, natural law theory, mathematics and the nature of human worth.
Responding to a question about whether an appreciation of human worth can be truly objective, Franklin acknowledged that “it’s only humans who do valuing or perceiving”.
He nevertheless argued that humans, by virtue of their rationality, understanding and capacity for choice, are able to recognise what he described as objective worth.
The evening also touched on Franklin’s argument that there are necessary connections between evidence and conclusions.
Referring to the case of Cardinal George Pell, whose convictions were unanimously overturned by the High Court of Australia in 2020, Franklin argued that there can be a right and a wrong answer about what evidence supports.
Another theme explored in the book is the problem of evil. Franklin suggested that a better understanding of necessity may help explain why even divine omnipotence operates within constraints.
“Absolute necessities constrain even God,” he said.
Introducing the book, Anstey described it as a significant contribution to contemporary philosophical discussions about necessity.
Despite engaging with complex questions in metaphysics, Anstey praised the book as “easy to read”.
Yet, Franklin acknowledged that potential readers might wonder what practical value there is in reading his latest book.
Quoting an anecdote about the ancient mathematician Euclid, he said that philosophy offers an opportunity to step away from the constant activity required by life’s contingent necessities.
“The point is to have a break from making gain and giving political opinions and frenetically organising; and just contemplate, as you do when you enter an art gallery,” he said.
He also encouraged younger members of the audience to gather, meet, and get to know each other afterwards over refreshments, and for everyone present to “get out there, think straight, and behave virtuously.”
The Necessities Underlying Reality is available for free online at Bloomsburycollections.com.
