Single Idea 23460

[catalogued under 6. Mathematics / A. Nature of Mathematics / 4. Using Numbers / c. Counting procedure]

Full Idea

Distinguishing between things is not enough for counting. …We need the crucial extra notion of a successor in a series of a certain kind.

Gist of Idea

To count, we must distinguish things, and have a series with successors in it

Source

Michael Morris (Guidebook to Wittgenstein's Tractatus [2008], Intro)

Book Reference

Morris,Michael: 'Guidebook to Wittgenstein's Tractatus' [Routledge 2008], p.14


A Reaction

This is the thinking that led to the Dedekind-Peano axioms for arithmetic. E.g. each series member can only have one successor. There is an unformalisable assumption that the series can then be applied to the things.