# Why Zero should be a symbol and not a number (Philosophy of math/metaphysics)

**URL:** https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-zero-should-be-a-symbol-and-not-a-number-philosophy-of-math-metaphysics/85917
**Category:** Science, Technology, and Math
**Tags:** logic
**Created:** [July 29, 2026, 5:19pm UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-zero-should-be-a-symbol-and-not-a-number-philosophy-of-math-metaphysics/85917 "2026-07-29T17:19:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 20

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### Author: ![Ichthus77](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/user_avatar/www.ilovephilosophy.com/ichthus77/32/446_2.png) [@Ichthus77](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/u/Ichthus77)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2026, 7:49am UTC](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/why-zero-should-be-a-symbol-and-not-a-number-philosophy-of-math-metaphysics/85917/20 "2026-09-13T07:49:53Z")

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> [@Echogem222](#):
>
> 0 is a physical fiction (you can’t add two absences together)

reminds me of:

> [@Binary Processes Require and Produce Non-Binary Distinctions](https://www.ilovephilosophy.com/t/binary-processes-require-and-produce-non-binary-distinctions/86192/33):
>
> It’s ¬ absence. It’s difference. There’s a difference (¬ absence).
> 
> ¬ should (does) ¬ always mean the same thing in logic/math…language. Using one symbol for all senses of ¬ is equivocation—why do the different (¬ lack of) senses get lumped into one word/symbol?
> 
> #petpeeve

and:

In levels of measurement in statistics (nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio)… zero does ¬ mean absence at the interval (but ¬ ratio) level, which can go into negative numbers (which _also_ do ¬ mean absence).

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