Primitive
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The Closed Loop is a "constructivist" project. We are "building stuff" - from pieces that we put together to form composite systems and "wholes". One thing we are building is "concepts". What are concepts made out of?
A "primitive" or a "primitive notion" is supposedly a lowest-level object or element from which abstract ideas can be/are/should be constructed.
Mon, May 10, 2021
Reference
In mathematics, logic, philosophy, and formal systems, a primitive notion is a concept that is not defined in terms of previously-defined concepts. It is often motivated informally, usually by an appeal to intuition and everyday experience. In an axiomatic theory, relations between primitive notions are restricted by axioms. Some authors refer to the latter as "defining" primitive notions by one or more axioms, but this can be misleading. Formal theories cannot dispense with primitive notions, under pain of infinite regress (per the regress problem).
For example, in contemporary geometry, point, line, and contains are some primitive notions. Instead of attempting to define them, their interplay is ruled (in Hilbert's axiom system) by axioms like "For every two points there exists a line that contains them both".
URL
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primitive_notion
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