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Single Idea 23627

[filed under theme 5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 6. Relations in Logic ]

Full Idea

The reason the two predicates 'before' and 'after' are needed is not to express different relations, but to indicate its order. Since there can be difference of order without difference of relation, the nature of relations is not the source of order.

Gist of Idea

'Before' and 'after' are not two relations, but one relation with two orders

Source

Keith Hossack (Knowledge and the Philosophy of Number [2020], 10.3)

Book Ref

Hossack, Keith: 'Knowledge and the Philosophy of Number' [Routledge 2021], p.157


A Reaction

This point is to refute Russell's 1903 claim that order arises from the nature of relations. Hossack claims that it is ordered series which are basic. I'm inclined to agree with him.


The 29 ideas from Keith Hossack

Numbers are properties, not sets (because numbers are magnitudes) [Hossack]
We can only mentally construct potential infinities, but maths needs actual infinities [Hossack]
Predicativism says only predicated sets exist [Hossack]
The iterative conception has to appropriate Replacement, to justify the ordinals [Hossack]
Limitation of Size justifies Replacement, but then has to appropriate Power Set [Hossack]
Transfinite ordinals are needed in proof theory, and for recursive functions and computability [Hossack]
'Before' and 'after' are not two relations, but one relation with two orders [Hossack]
The connective 'and' can have an order-sensitive meaning, as 'and then' [Hossack]
A thought can refer to many things, but only predicate a universal and affirm a state of affairs [Hossack]
Complex particulars are either masses, or composites, or sets [Hossack]
Leibniz's Law argues against atomism - water is wet, unlike water molecules [Hossack]
Plural reference will refer to complex facts without postulating complex things [Hossack]
Plural reference is just an abbreviation when properties are distributive, but not otherwise [Hossack]
We are committed to a 'group' of children, if they are sitting in a circle [Hossack]
Plural definite descriptions pick out the largest class of things that fit the description [Hossack]
A plural comprehension principle says there are some things one of which meets some condition [Hossack]
Plural language can discuss without inconsistency things that are not members of themselves [Hossack]
A plural language gives a single comprehensive induction axiom for arithmetic [Hossack]
The Axiom of Choice is a non-logical principle of set-theory [Hossack]
Extensional mereology needs two definitions and two axioms [Hossack]
The relation of composition is indispensable to the part-whole relation for individuals [Hossack]
The fusion of five rectangles can decompose into more than five parts that are rectangles [Hossack]
In arithmetic singularists need sets as the instantiator of numeric properties [Hossack]
The theory of the transfinite needs the ordinal numbers [Hossack]
I take the real numbers to be just lengths [Hossack]
We could ignore space, and just talk of the shape of matter [Hossack]
Set theory is the science of infinity [Hossack]
The Axiom of Choice guarantees a one-one correspondence from sets to ordinals [Hossack]
Maybe we reduce sets to ordinals, rather than the other way round [Hossack]