Date: Mar 25, 2013 10:01 PM
Author: David Petry
Subject: Re: Mathematics and the Roots of Postmodern Thought

On Monday, March 25, 2013 1:42:27 PM UTC-7, fom wrote:

> Frege once characterized the empty set as a "forest without trees".

> Modern mereology follows Lesniewski in denying the existence of
> an empty set.

> Shall these be accepted as arguments to ban speaking of zero?


Mathematics can be thought of as a conceptual framework for reasoning about the real world. You would have trouble convincing me that "zero" is not an essential concept within that conceptual framework


> Even if Cantor viewed his own conception in terms of
> realism, why do you presume that this is required of
> everyone else?

Ockham's razor.  Keep it simple.  Yada, yada.