On Hell and Forgiveness

[polymath257]

Let me put it this way. If everyone agrees what it is to be the number 4, what is it, precisely?

You seem to be talking about the nature of language here.  If everyone agrees what a tree is, then what is it?  It would seem ridiculous to say that trees don’t exist that they are subjective, because we agree to call them trees.

But there is nothing about the real trees that dictate that the English word 'tree' be used for it. There is nothing that dictates the language used.

We can, given language, define generally what it means to be a tree (a wooden plant with certain other characteristics).

And generally, people agree what it means to be a tree.

But what does it mean to be the number 4? NOT, mind you, what does it mean to have 4 apples. But what actually *is* the number 4?

By the way, there are answers to this question. But there are several, mutually exclusive answers.