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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'The Will to Power (notebooks)' and 'The Philosophy of Logic'

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2 ideas

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / a. Units

20361	We need 'unities' for reckoning, but that does not mean they exist [Nietzsche]
	Full Idea: We need 'unities' in order to be able to reckon: that does not mean we must suppose that such unities exist.
	From: Friedrich Nietzsche (The Will to Power (notebooks) [1888], §635)
	A reaction: True. I takes this thought to be important in the Psychology of Metaphysics (an unfashionable branch).

6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 5. The Infinite / i. Cardinal infinity

18200	Very large sets should be studied in an 'if-then' spirit [Putnam]
	Full Idea: Sets of a very high type or very high cardinality (higher than the continuum, for example), should today be investigated in an 'if-then' spirit.
	From: Hilary Putnam (The Philosophy of Logic [1971], p.347), quoted by Penelope Maddy - Naturalism in Mathematics
	A reaction: Quine says the large sets should be regarded as 'uninterpreted'.