Single Idea 16500

[catalogued under 6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / c. Fregean numbers]

Full Idea

It was a justly celebrated insight of Frege that numbers attach to the concepts under which objects fall, and not to the objects themselves.

Gist of Idea

Frege showed that numbers attach to concepts, not to objects

Source

report of Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884]) by David Wiggins - Sameness and Substance 1.6

Book Reference

Wiggins,David: 'Sameness and Substance' [Blackwell 1980], p.44


A Reaction

A combination of this idea, and Aristotle's 'Categories', give us the roots of the philosophy of David Wiggins. Frege's example of two boots (or one 'pair' of boots) is the clearest example. …But the world dictates our concepts.