Full Idea
Numbers are merely a system of names devised by men for the purpose of counting.
Gist of Idea
Numbers are just names devised for counting
Source
Charles Sanders Peirce (Scientific Attitude and Fallibilism [1899], II)
Book Reference
Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Philosophical Writings of Peirce', ed/tr. Buchler,Justus [Dover 1940], p.59
A Reaction
This seems a perfectly plausible view prior to the advent of Cantor, set theory and modern mathematical logic. I suppose the modern reply to this is that Peirce may be right about origin, but that men thereby stumbled on an Aladdin's Cave of riches.