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Single Idea 9642

[from 'Philosophy of Mathematics' by James Robert Brown, in 4. Formal Logic / F. Set Theory ST / 7. Natural Sets ]

Full Idea

Neither a flock of birds nor a pack of wolves is strictly a set, since a flock can fly south, and a pack can be on the prowl, whereas sets go nowhere and menace no one.

Gist of Idea

A flock of birds is not a set, because a set cannot go anywhere

Source

James Robert Brown (Philosophy of Mathematics [1999], Ch. 7)

Book Reference

Brown,James Robert: 'Philosophy of Mathematics' [Routledge 2002], p.97


A Reaction

To say that the pack menaced you would presumably be to commit the fallacy of composition. Doesn't the number 64 have properties which its set-theoretic elements (whatever we decide they are) will lack?