It is the sort of celebrity gossip that people are drawn to, and no doubt many of these stories will eventually become part of the mathematical lore passed down from generation to generation of mathematicians. While Rota is known best for his mathematics, he has also published in philosophy. It is here that Rota most successfully turns his phenomenological lenses on the undertakings of mathematicians. A quick glance through any serious mathematical research journal will confirm that this is the universal discourse of mathematicians. The first stop is the role of verification in proof.
Rota settles on the notion of possibility.
The discovery of hidden reasons is the work of the mathematician. Once such reasons are found, the choice of particular formal statements to express them is secondary. As Rota notes, the implications of formally enriching our notion of mathematical proof are troubling. Mathematics prides itself on being able to understand even the action of proving theorems from a mathematical perspective. This is the upshot of modern meta-mathematics.