[FOM] ontology

[Carlos Gonçalves]

At 18:14 14-01-2004 +0000, you wrote:

>An essay question:
>
>
>Are the finite ordinals the same mathematical objects as the finite
>cardinals?  Give reasons...                       [\aleph_0 marks]

Hi Thomas,

These are different objects, the notion of ordinal, in particular, appeals 
to a notion of order (and of well ordered set) while a cardinal is, 
following Cantor, obtained through an operation of double abstraction, both 
from the order in which the elements of the set are given and from the 
nature itself of those elements.

C. Pedro