Single Idea 10091

[catalogued under 6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 3. Nature of Numbers / c. Priority of numbers]

Full Idea

God made the integers, all the rest is the work of man.

Gist of Idea

God made the integers, all the rest is the work of man

Source

Leopold Kronecker (works [1885]), quoted by A.George / D.J.Velleman - Philosophies of Mathematics Intro

Book Reference

George,A/Velleman D.J.: 'Philosophies of Mathematics' [Blackwell 2002], p.13


A Reaction

This famous remark was first quoted in Kronecker's obituary. A response to Dedekind, it seems. See Idea 10090. Did he really mean that negative numbers were the work of God? We took a long time to spot them.

Related Idea

Idea 10090 Dedekind defined the integers, rationals and reals in terms of just the natural numbers [Dedekind, by George/Velleman]