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Single Idea 21570

[filed under theme 6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 7. Formalism ]

Full Idea

Numbers are nothing but a verbal convenience, and disappear when the propositions that seem to contain them are fully written out.

Gist of Idea

Numbers are just verbal conveniences, which can be analysed away

Source

Bertrand Russell (Is Mathematics purely Linguistic? [1952], p.301)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'Essays in Analysis', ed/tr. Lackey,Douglas [George Braziller 1973], p.301


A Reaction

This is the culmination of the process which began with his 1905 theory of definite descriptions. The intervening step was Wittgenstein's purely formal account of the logical connectives.