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Full Idea
It makes no difference whether we speak of the particular or the one in number. For by the one in number we mean the particular.
Gist of Idea
The one in number just is the particular
Source
Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 0999b33)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.68
A Reaction
This is the Greek view of 'one', quite different from the Frege or Dedekind view. I prefer the Greek view, because 'one' is the place where numbers plug into the world, and the one indispensable feature of numbers is that they can count particulars.
| 7485 | For Pythagoreans 'one' is not a number, but the foundation of numbers [Pythagoras, by Watson] |
| 12074 | The one in number just is the particular [Aristotle] |
| 9894 | A unit is that according to which each existing thing is said to be one [Euclid] |
| 12488 | The idea of 'one' is the simplest, most obvious and most widespread idea [Locke] |
| 8636 | We can say 'a and b are F' if F is 'wise', but not if it is 'one' [Frege] |
| 8654 | One is the Number which belongs to the concept "identical with 0" [Frege] |
| 14421 | Discovering that 1 is a number was difficult [Russell] |