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Full Idea
The reason we have a hard time counting the branches and the waves is because our concepts 'branches on the tree' and 'waves on the ocean' do not determine sufficiently precise boundaries: the concepts do not draw a clear invisible line around each thing.
Gist of Idea
We struggle to count branches and waves because our concepts lack clear boundaries
Source
Kathrin Koslicki (Isolation and Non-arbitrary Division [1997], 2.2)
Book Ref
-: 'Synthese' [-], p.413
A Reaction
This is the 'isolation' referred to in Frege.
Related Idea
Idea 17426 A concept creating a unit must isolate and unify what falls under it [Frege]
| 17439 | There is no deep reason why we count carrots but not asparagus [Koslicki] |
| 17435 | Objects do not naturally form countable units [Koslicki] |
| 17433 | We can still count squares, even if they overlap [Koslicki] |
| 17434 | We struggle to count branches and waves because our concepts lack clear boundaries [Koslicki] |
| 17436 | We talk of snow as what stays the same, when it is a heap or drift or expanse [Koslicki] |