Single Idea 8642

[catalogued under 6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 10. Constructivism / c. Conceptualism]

Full Idea

What we actually get by means of abstraction from things is the concept, and in this we then discover the number.

Gist of Idea

Abstraction from things produces concepts, and numbers are in the concepts

Source

Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884], §47)

Book Reference

Frege,Gottlob: 'The Foundations of Arithmetic (Austin)', ed/tr. Austin,J.L. [Blackwell 1980], p.61


A Reaction

And how do we 'discover' it, if not by a process of further abstraction? The concept of the moon (see Idea 8641) no more contains the number one than the actual moon does

Related Idea

Idea 8641 You can abstract concepts from the moon, but the number one is not among them [Frege]