Full Idea
The 4-pattern is the structure common to all collections of four objects.
Gist of Idea
The 4-pattern is the structure common to all collections of four objects
Source
Stewart Shapiro (Philosophy of Mathematics [1997], 4.2)
Book Reference
Shapiro,Stewart: 'Philosophy of Mathematics:structure and ontology' [OUP 1997], p.115
A Reaction
This seems open to Frege's objection, that you can have four disparate abstract concepts, or four spatially scattered items of unknown pattern. It certainly isn't a visual pattern, but then if the only detectable pattern is the fourness, it is circular.