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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Whitehead and the Rise of Modern Logic' and 'Phil Applications of Cognitive Science'

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2 ideas

6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 4. Mathematical Empiricism / a. Mathematical empiricism

4044	Rat behaviour reveals a considerable ability to count [Goldman]
	Full Idea: Rats can determine the number of times they have pressed a lever up to at least twenty-four presses,…and can consistently turn down the fifth tunnel on the left in a maze.
	From: Alvin I. Goldman (Phil Applications of Cognitive Science [1993], p.58)
	A reaction: This seems to encourage an empirical view of maths (pattern recognition?) rather than a Platonic one. Or numbers are innate in rat brains?

6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / b. Type theory

21557	Russell confused use and mention, and reduced classes to properties, not to language [Quine, by Lackey]
	Full Idea: Quine (1941) said that Russell had confused use and mention, and thus thought he had reduced classes to linguistic entities, while in fact he reduced them only to Platonic properties.
	From: report of Willard Quine (Whitehead and the Rise of Modern Logic [1941]) by Douglas Lackey - Intros to Russell's 'Essays in Analysis' p.133
	A reaction: This is cited as the 'orthodox critical interpretation' of Russell and Whitehead. Confusion of use and mention was a favourite charge of Quine's.