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Single Idea 18266

[filed under theme 15. Nature of Minds / C. Capacities of Minds / 5. Generalisation by mind ]

Full Idea

The instrument of generality in mathematics is the variable.

Gist of Idea

Mathematics generalises by using variables

Source

J. Alberto Coffa (The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap [1991], 4 'The conc')

Book Ref

Coffa,J.Alberto: 'The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap' [CUP 1993], p.69

A Reaction

I like the idea that there are variables in ordinary speech, pronouns being the most obvious example. 'Cats' is a variable involving quantification over a domain of lovable fluffy mammals.

The 5 ideas from J. Alberto Coffa

18279 Relativity is as absolutist about space-time as Newton was about space [Coffa]
18263 The semantic tradition aimed to explain the a priori semantically, not by Kantian intuition [Coffa]
18266 Mathematics generalises by using variables [Coffa]
18270 Choice suggests that intensions are not needed to ensure classes [Coffa]
18272 Platonism defines the a priori in a way that makes it unknowable [Coffa]