Full Idea
Formalism is perfectly adequate for doing sums, but not for the application of number, such as the simple statement 'there are three men in this room', so it must be regarded as an unsatisfactory evasion.
Gist of Idea
Formalism can't apply numbers to reality, so it is an evasion
Source
Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.10)
Book Reference
Russell,Bertrand: 'My Philosophical Development' [Routledge 1993], p.82
A Reaction
This seems to me a powerful and simple objection. The foundation of arithmetic is that there are three men in the room, not that one plus two is three. Three men and three ties make a pattern, which we call 'three'.
Related Idea
Idea 9887 Formalism misunderstands applications, metatheory, and infinity [Frege, by Dummett]