Bad company objection to Joongol Kim's adverbial theory of numbers
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초록

Kim (Synthese 190(6):1099-1112, 2013) defends a logicist theory of numbers. According to him, numbers are adverbial entities, similar to those denoted by "frequently" and "at 100mph". He even introduces new adverbs for numbers: "1-wise", "2-wise", and so on. For example, "Fs exist 2-wise" means that there are (at least) two Fs. Kim claims that, because we can derive Dedekind-Peano axioms from his definition of numbers as adverbial entities, it is a new form of logicism. In this paper, I will, however, argue that his theory is vulnerable to an analogue of the so-called Bad Company objection to neo-Fregeanism. This means that we cannot be sure that numbers are actually given to us by Kim's definition; for, we don't know whether it is indeed a good definition. So, unless Kim, or somebody else, provides a demarcation criterion between good and bad adverbial definitions, Kim's theory will remain incomplete.

키워드

NumberLogicismFregeAdverbModes of existenceBad companyEmbarrassment of riches
제목
Bad company objection to Joongol Kim's adverbial theory of numbers
저자
Kim, Namjoong
DOI
10.1007/s11229-017-1602-x
발행일
2019-08
유형
Article
저널명
Synthese
196
8
페이지
3389 ~ 3407