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Full Idea
Poincaré once exclaimed, 'Convention, yes! Arbitrary, no!'.
Gist of Idea
Convention, yes! Arbitrary, no!
Source
report of Henri Poincaré (talk [1901]) by Hilary Putnam - Models and Reality
Book Ref
'Philosophy of Mathematics: readings (2nd)', ed/tr. Benacerraf/Putnam [CUP 1983], p.430
A Reaction
An interesting view. It mustn't be assumed that conventions are not rooted in something. Maybe a sort of pragmatism is implied.
| 18203 | Avoid non-predicative classifications and definitions [Poincaré] |
| 15923 | Poincaré rejected the actual infinite, claiming definitions gave apparent infinity to finite objects [Poincaré, by Lavine] |
| 10180 | Mathematicians do not study objects, but relations between objects [Poincaré] |
| 10245 | One geometry cannot be more true than another [Poincaré] |
| 9916 | Convention, yes! Arbitrary, no! [Poincaré, by Putnam] |
| 15877 | The aim of science is just to create a comprehensive, elegant language to describe brute facts [Poincaré, by Harré] |