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9916 | Convention, yes! Arbitrary, no! |
Full Idea: Poincaré once exclaimed, 'Convention, yes! Arbitrary, no!'. | |||
From: report of Henri Poincaré (talk [1901]) by Hilary Putnam - Models and Reality | |||
A reaction: An interesting view. It mustn't be assumed that conventions are not rooted in something. Maybe a sort of pragmatism is implied. |