Full Idea
The essential properties of mathematical entities seem to be relational, ...so we make no progress unless we can pick out some mathematical entities wihout presupposing other entities already picked out.
Gist of Idea
Since mathematical objects are essentially relational, they can't be picked out on their own
Source
Michael Jubien (Ontology and Mathematical Truth [1977], p.112)
Book Reference
'Philosophy of Mathematics: anthology', ed/tr. Jacquette,Dale [Blackwell 2002], p.112
A Reaction
[compressed] Jubien is a good critic of platonism. He has identified the problem with Frege's metaphor of a 'borehole', where we discover delightful new properties of numbers simply by reaching them.
Related Idea
Idea 9910 Number-as-objects works wholesale, but fails utterly object by object [Benacerraf]