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Ideas from 'Letter to Weber' by Richard Dedekind [1888], by Theme Structure

[found in 'From Kant to Hilbert: sourcebook Vol. 2' (ed/tr Ewald,William) [OUP 1996,0-19-850536-1]].

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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / i. Reals from cuts
18244 I say the irrational is not the cut itself, but a new creation which corresponds to the cut
                        Full Idea: Of my theory of irrationals you say that the irrational number is nothing else than the cut itself, whereas I prefer to create something new (different from the cut), which corresponds to the cut. We have the right to claim such a creative power.
                        From: Richard Dedekind (Letter to Weber [1888], 1888 Jan), quoted by Stewart Shapiro - Philosophy of Mathematics 5.4
                        A reaction: Clearly a cut will not locate a unique irrational number, so something more needs to be done. Shapiro remarks here that for Dedekind numbers are objects.