Peirce and Dedekind: the definition of finite set (Q1062967): Difference between revisions

In critically analyzing the contributions of Dedekind and Peirce to the axiomatic theory of natural numbers the author is able to bring out the salient features of Dedekind's contribution as well as to point out to what extent Peirce's similar contributions should be acknowledged, although his claims of priority are unjustified. Peirce had given an axiomatic definition of natural numbers similar to Dedekind and developed a symbolic language to prove that such numbers also have the property of ``finiteness''. But Dedekind was the first to show that cardinal numbers with the property of ``finiteness'' as definable through Cantor's distinction of finite and infinite sets, namely only infinite sets allow one to one mappings onto its own subsets, must also be natural numbers as defined axiomatically.