Aggregate Theory Versus Set Theory

Author: Slater H.¹

Source: Erkenntnis, Volume 59, Number 2, September 2003 , pp. 189-202(14)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Maddy's (1990) arguments against Aggregate Theory were undermined by the shift in her position in 1997. The present paper considers Aggregate Theory in the light of this, and the recent search for `New Axioms for Mathematics'. If Set Theory is the part-whole theory of singletons, then identifying singletons with their single members collapses Set Theory into Aggregate Theory. But if singletons are not identical to their single members, then they are not extensional objects and so are not a basis for Science. Either way, the Continuum Hypothesis has no physical interest.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Western Australia Department of Philosophy Arts Building 35 Stirling Highway Crawley, WA 6009 Australia

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