FOM: Maths Barbie

[Neil Tennant]

On Sat, 2 Mar 2002, Dean Buckner wrote:

> So [Heck] concludes "The notion of one-one correspondence is very
> sophisticated".  He is implying (i think) that (i) children develop
> numerical concepts in stages or layers (ii) the order of development shows
> which concepts are "logically prior".  So it looks like Hume's principle is
> not logically prior to some basic mathematical concepts, and it is therefore
> a mistake to base foundational theories upon it. 

Are neo-Fregeans forgetting the words of their master?:

> "[w]hat comes first in the logical and objective order
> is not what comes first in the psychological and
> historical order" ?

This GOTTLOB FREGE, in his essay "On the law of inertia", originally
published as "Ueber das Traegheitsgesetz" in 1891 in Zeitschrift fuer
Philosophie und philosophische Kritik. You can find it in the Frege volume
known as the Kleine Schriften. The English translation of this essay is by
Hans Kaal, and is in the "Englished" volume of the KS edited by Brian
McGuiness.  

Neil Tennant