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Single Idea 8780

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 10. Properties as Predicates ]

Full Idea

Attributes should not be thought of as identifiable objects. It is better to follow Frege and compare them to mathematical functions. 'Square of' and 'double of' x are distinct functions, even though they are not distinguishable in thought when x is 2.

Gist of Idea

Attributes are functions, not objects; this distinguishes 'square of 2' from 'double of 2'

Source

Peter Geach (Mental Acts: their content and their objects [1957], §11)

Book Ref

Geach,Peter: 'Mental Acts: Their content and their objects' [RKP 1971], p.39

A Reaction

Attributes are features of the world, of which animals are well aware, and the mathematical model is dubious when dealing with physical properties. The route to arriving at 2 is not the same concept as 2. There are many roads to Rome.

The 16 ideas from 'Mental Acts: their content and their objects'

2567 You can't define real mental states in terms of behaviour that never happens [Geach]
2568 Beliefs aren't tied to particular behaviours [Geach]
8769 If someone has aphasia but can still play chess, they clearly have concepts [Geach]
8770 'Abstractionism' is acquiring a concept by picking out one experience amongst a group [Geach]
8771 'Or' and 'not' are not to be found in the sensible world, or even in the world of inner experience [Geach]
8772 We can't acquire number-concepts by extracting the number from the things being counted [Geach]
8773 Abstractionists can't explain counting, because it must precede experience of objects [Geach]
8774 The numbers don't exist in nature, so they cannot have been abstracted from there into our languages [Geach]
8775 A big flea is a small animal, so 'big' and 'small' cannot be acquired by abstraction [Geach]
8776 We cannot learn relations by abstraction, because their converse must be learned too [Geach]
8778 Blind people can use colour words like 'red' perfectly intelligently [Geach]
8777 If 'black' and 'cat' can be used in the absence of such objects, how can such usage be abstracted? [Geach]
8779 We can form two different abstract concepts that apply to a single unified experience [Geach]
8780 Attributes are functions, not objects; this distinguishes 'square of 2' from 'double of 2' [Geach]
8781 The mind does not lift concepts from experience; it creates them, and then applies them [Geach]
11910 Being 'the same' is meaningless, unless we specify 'the same X' [Geach]