ABSTRACT
The foregoing discussion of the reality of the infinite in the Iqwaye cultural life-world has also amplified the general character of their view of the cosmos, namely its profound anthropocentricity. The Iqwaye counting system appears as a microcosmic metaphor of the cosmic process, but it is a metaphor the meanings of which are neutralised by the very objectivity of that system. The chapter indicates some basic ideas concerning the development of the concept of number, specifically the emergence of the transfinite numbers in the work of Georg Cantor, and draw some conclusions both in regard to the problem of infinity and the anthropological studies of the ‘modes of thought’ in relation to numeracy and mathematics. The Iqwaye counting system, like any other mathematical system or many other human creations, evinces dramatically the true nature of human creative genius. Even the mathematical freedom achieved by means of pure concepts and their manipulability has its internal limitations and engenders contradictions.
