Single Idea 9976

[catalogued under 18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 2. Abstracta by Selection]

Full Idea

Frege's own conception of abstraction (although he disapproves of the term) is in agreement with the view that abstracting from the particular nature of the elements of M would yield the concept under which fall all sets equipollent to M.

Clarification

'Equipollent' means they map one-to-one onto each other

Gist of Idea

Frege accepts abstraction to the concept of all sets equipollent to a given one

Source

comment on Gottlob Frege (Grundlagen der Arithmetik (Foundations) [1884]) by William W. Tait - Frege versus Cantor and Dedekind III

Book Reference

'Philosophy of Mathematics: anthology', ed/tr. Jacquette,Dale [Blackwell 2002], p.44


A Reaction

Nice! This shows how difficult it is to slough off the concept of abstractionism and live with purely logical concepts of it. If we 'construct' a set, then there is a process of creation to be explained; we can't just think of platonic givens.