14248
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We could accept the integers as primitive, then use sets to construct the rest [Cohen]
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Full Idea:
A very reasonable position would be to accept the integers as primitive entities and then use sets to form higher entities.
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From:
Paul J. Cohen (Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis [1966], 5.4), quoted by Oliver,A/Smiley,T - What are Sets and What are they For?
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A reaction:
I find this very appealing, and the authority of this major mathematician adds support. I would say, though, that the integers are not 'primitive', but pick out (in abstraction) consistent features of the natural world.
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17993
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Laws are relations of kinds, quantities and qualities, supervening on the essences of a domain [Vetter]
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Full Idea:
The laws of a domain are the fundamental, general explanatory relationships between kinds, quantities, and qualities of that domain, that supervene upon the essential natures of those things.
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From:
Barbara Vetter (Dispositional Essentialism and the Laws of Nature [2012], 9.3)
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A reaction:
Hm. How small can the domain be? Can it embrace the multiverse? Supervenience is a rather weak relationship. How about 'are necessitated/entailed by'? Are the relationships supposed to do the explaining? I would have thought the natures did that.
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