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Single Idea 9624

[from 'System of Logic' by John Stuart Mill, in 6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 5. Numbers as Adjectival ]

Full Idea

Mill held that numbers are a kind of very general property that objects possess.

Gist of Idea

Numbers are a very general property of objects

Source

report of John Stuart Mill (System of Logic [1843], Ch.4) by James Robert Brown - Philosophy of Mathematics

Book Reference

Brown,James Robert: 'Philosophy of Mathematics' [Routledge 2002], p.55


A Reaction

Intuitively this sounds hopeless, because if you place one apple next to another you introduce 'two', but which apple has changed its property? Both? It seems to be a Cambridge change. It isn't a change that would bother the apples. Kitcher pursues this.