Defining sets as sets of points of spaces (Q1106844)

The work of Dedekind and Cantor succeeded in reducing the continuum (the geometric line) to the theory of (discrete) sets. The author explains how, in an opposite direction, the discrete should be derived out of the continuous, conceived in Lawvere's spirit as some category (topos) of `spaces', for which the law of excluded middle does not hold. The spaces for which excluded middle does hold are, according to the present article, precisely the discrete sets; some axioms are presented, extending those of Synthetic Differential Geometry (in the sense of the reviewer's book of this title (1981; Zbl 0466.51008), say), which give discrete sets a status within the category of spaces. There are no proofs, but some acute historical remarks.