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Ideas for 'works', 'A Structural Account of Mathematics' and 'The Philosophy of Mathematics'

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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / c. Priority of numbers

9191	Ordinals seem more basic than cardinals, since we count objects in sequence [Dummett]
	Full Idea: It can be argued that the notion of ordinal numbers is more fundamental than that of cardinals. To count objects, we must count them in sequence. ..The theory of ordinals forms the substratum of Cantor's theory of cardinals.
	From: Michael Dummett (The Philosophy of Mathematics [1998], 5)
	A reaction: Depends what you mean by 'fundamental'. I would take cardinality to be psychologically prior ('that is a lot of sheep'). You can't order people by height without first acquiring some people with differing heights. I vote for cardinals.