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Single Idea 9577

[filed under theme 6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 4. Mathematical Empiricism / c. Against mathematical empiricism ]

Full Idea

The most naïve opinion of number is that it is something like a heap in which things are contained. The next most naïve view is the conception of number as the property of a heap, cleansing the objects of their particulars.

Gist of Idea

The naïve view of number is that it is like a heap of things, or maybe a property of a heap

Source

Gottlob Frege (Review of Husserl's 'Phil of Arithmetic' [1894], p.323)

Book Ref

-: 'Mind July 1972' [-], p.323


A Reaction

A hundred toothbrushes and a hundred sponges can be seen to contain the same number (by one-to-one mapping), without actually knowing what that number is. There is something numerical in the heap, even if the number is absent.