Combining Texts

Ideas for 'reports', 'The Principles of Mathematics' and 'Farewell to Reality: fairytale physics'

unexpand these ideas     |    start again     |     choose another area for these texts

display all the ideas for this combination of texts

---

2 ideas

9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / a. Intrinsic unification

14164	The only unities are simples, or wholes composed of parts [Russell]
	Full Idea: The only kind of unity to which I can attach any precise sense - apart from the unity of the absolutely simple - is that of a whole composed of parts.
	From: Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], §439)
	A reaction: This comes from a keen student of Leibniz, who was obsessed with unity. Russell leaves unaddressed the question of what turns some parts into a whole.

9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / b. Unifying aggregates

14112	A set has some sort of unity, but not enough to be a 'whole' [Russell]
	Full Idea: In a class as many, the component terms, though they have some kind of unity, have less than is required for a whole.
	From: Bertrand Russell (The Principles of Mathematics [1903], §070)
	A reaction: This is interesting because (among many other things), sets are used to stand for numbers, but numbers are usually reqarded as wholes.