Combining Texts
Ideas for
'Thinking About Mathematics', 'New Essays on Human Understanding' and 'Logicism, Some Considerations (PhD)'
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20 ideas
6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 2. Geometry
13008
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Geometry, unlike sensation, lets us glimpse eternal truths and their necessity [Leibniz]
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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / a. Numbers
13412
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Obtaining numbers by abstraction is impossible - there are too many; only a rule could give them, in order [Benacerraf]
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13413
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We must explain how we know so many numbers, and recognise ones we haven't met before [Benacerraf]
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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / b. Types of number
8763
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The number 3 is presumably identical as a natural, an integer, a rational, a real, and complex [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / c. Priority of numbers
13411
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If numbers are basically the cardinals (Frege-Russell view) you could know some numbers in isolation [Benacerraf]
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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / h. Reals from Cauchy
18249
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Cauchy gave a formal definition of a converging sequence. [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / a. Units
12956
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Only whole numbers are multitudes of units [Leibniz]
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6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 1. Foundations for Mathematics
8764
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Categories are the best foundation for mathematics [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 3. Axioms for Geometry
12937
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We shouldn't just accept Euclid's axioms, but try to demonstrate them [Leibniz]
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6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 5. Definitions of Number / f. Zermelo numbers
8762
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Two definitions of 3 in terms of sets disagree over whether 1 is a member of 3 [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / B. Foundations for Mathematics / 7. Mathematical Structuralism / a. Structuralism
13415
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An adequate account of a number must relate it to its series [Benacerraf]
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8760
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Numbers do not exist independently; the essence of a number is its relations to other numbers [Shapiro]
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8761
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A 'system' is related objects; a 'pattern' or 'structure' abstracts the pure relations from them [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 6. Logicism / d. Logicism critique
8744
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Logicism seems to be a non-starter if (as is widely held) logic has no ontology of its own [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 7. Formalism
8749
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Term Formalism says mathematics is just about symbols - but real numbers have no names [Shapiro]
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8750
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Game Formalism is just a matter of rules, like chess - but then why is it useful in science? [Shapiro]
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8752
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Deductivism says mathematics is logical consequences of uninterpreted axioms [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 10. Constructivism / b. Intuitionism
8753
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Critics resent the way intuitionism cripples mathematics, but it allows new important distinctions [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 10. Constructivism / c. Conceptualism
8731
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Conceptualist are just realists or idealist or nominalists, depending on their view of concepts [Shapiro]
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6. Mathematics / C. Sources of Mathematics / 10. Constructivism / d. Predicativism
8730
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'Impredicative' definitions refer to the thing being described [Shapiro]
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