Posted: Oct 09, 2011 2:29 pm
mizvekov wrote:
By that account, do you also believe the number '5' is real because it describes the number of fingers I have in my left hand?
There is a distinction between the numerical (number-word) "5" and the number 5, which is a nonlinguistic object; and there is a further distinction between the numerical <5> as an abstract word-type and its concrete word-tokens such as "5". (In the last sentence four concrete tokens of <5> are used.)