Single Idea 8704

[catalogued under 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 2. Abstract Objects / a. Nature of abstracta]

Full Idea

What the mathematician labels an 'object' in her discipline, is called 'a place in a structure' by the structuralist.

Gist of Idea

Structuralists call a mathematical 'object' simply a 'place in a structure'

Source

Michèle Friend (Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics [2007], 4.5)

Book Reference

Friend,Michèle: 'Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics' [Acumen 2007], p.97


A Reaction

This is a strategy for dispersing the idea of an object in the world of thought, parallel to attempts to eliminate them from physical ontology (e.g. Idea 614).

Related Idea

Idea 614 Heraclitus said sometimes everything becomes fire [Heraclitus, by Aristotle]