Full Idea
It is natural nowadays to think of variables as a certain kind of sign, but I wish to think of them as a certain kind of object.
Gist of Idea
I think of variables as objects rather than as signs
Source
Kit Fine (Cantorian Abstraction: Recon. and Defence [1998], §2)
Book Reference
-: 'Journal of Philosophy' [-], p.7
A Reaction
Fine has a theory based on 'arbitrary objects', which is a rather charming idea. The cell of a spreadsheet is a kind of object, I suppose. A variable might be analogous to a point in space, where objects can locate themselves.