Question so What is more real? The number two or my two feet?

Accepted:
February 27, 2017

Comments

Why must either be "more real

Why must either be "more real" than the other? I can't make sense of "more real," anyway, as a comparison. Are shadows less real than the 3D objects that cast them? Shadows are dependent in a way in which 3D objects are not, but I don't see how that makes shadows any less real when they exist.

Some philosophers say that the number 2, being an abstract object, exists necessarily (i.e., in all possible circumstances), whereas your two feet exist only contingently (i.e., in some but not all possible circumstances). But that view does not imply that the number 2 is any more real than your two feet.

Other philosophers say that the number 2 exists but not your two feet, because they say that "anatomical foot," being a linguistically vague term, fails to denote anything in the world. (I think they're mistaken.) Still other philosophers would say that neither the number 2 nor your two feet exist. But none of that, I think, implies that one is more real than the other. Is Donald Trump more real than the Tooth Fairy? There is such a thing as Donald Trump but no such thing as the Tooth Fairy, yet I don't think that makes the former more real than the latter: "more real" isn't a comparison like "more controversial."

Question so What is more real? The number two or my two feet? Accepted:February 27, 2017

Question so What is more real? The number two or my two feet?

Accepted:
February 27, 2017