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Single Idea 10815

[filed under theme 6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 7. Mathematical Structuralism / e. Structuralism critique ]

Full Idea

We needn't believe in 'abstract structures' to have general structural truths about all successor functions.

Gist of Idea

We don't need 'abstract structures' to have structural truths about successor functions

Source

David Lewis (Mathematics is Megethology [1993], p.16)

Book Ref

-: 'Philosophia Mathematica' [-], p.16


The 11 ideas from 'Mathematics is Megethology'

Mathematics reduces to set theory, which reduces, with some mereology, to the singleton function [Lewis]
Megethology is the result of adding plural quantification to mereology [Lewis]
Mathematics is generalisations about singleton functions [Lewis]
We can accept the null set, but not a null class, a class lacking members [Lewis]
I say that absolutely any things can have a mereological fusion [Lewis]
The null set plays the role of last resort, for class abstracts and for existence [Lewis]
The null set is not a little speck of sheer nothingness, a black hole in Reality [Lewis]
What on earth is the relationship between a singleton and an element? [Lewis]
Are all singletons exact intrinsic duplicates? [Lewis]
We don't need 'abstract structures' to have structural truths about successor functions [Lewis]
We can use mereology to simulate quantification over relations [Lewis]