Single Idea 8656

[catalogued under 26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 6. Laws as Numerical]

Full Idea

The laws of number are not applicable to external things, and are not laws of nature, but they are applicable to judgements of external things: they are laws of the laws of nature.

Gist of Idea

The laws of number are not laws of nature, but are laws of the laws of nature

Source

Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884], §87)

Book Reference

Frege,Gottlob: 'The Foundations of Arithmetic (Austin)', ed/tr. Austin,J.L. [Blackwell 1980], p.99


A Reaction

We seem to be somewhere between pythagoreanism and 'the mind of God'. I feel fairly strongly that we are looking through the wrong end of the telescope here. The laws of nature 'emerge' from nature, and high-level abstractions emerge with them.