Things, collections and numbers
pp. 116-127
in: , Bolzano's theoretical philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 2011Abstract
One very important genus of complex ideas that we encounter everywhere are those in which the idea of collection (Inbegriff) appears. There are many types of the latter […] I must first determine with more precision the concept I associate with the word collection. I use this word in the same sense as it is used in the common usage and thus understand by a collection of certain things exactly the same as what one would express by the words: a combination (Verbindung) or association (Vereinigung) of these things, a gathering (Zusammensein) of the latter, a whole (Ganzes) in which they occur as parts (Teile). Hence the mere idea of a collection does not allow us to determine in which order and sequence the things that are put together appear or, indeed, whether there is or can be such an order. […] A collection, it seems to me, is nothing other than something complex (das Zusammengesetztheit hat). (1837, §82, 393)