Is Iteration an Object of Intuition?

Abstract

In ‘Intuition, iteration, induction’, Mark van Atten argues that iteration is an object of intuition for Brouwer and explains the intuitive character of the act of iteration drawing from Husserl’s phenomenology. I find the arguments for this reading of Brouwer unconvincing. In this note I set out some issues with his claim that iteration is an object of intuition and his Husserlian explication of iteration. In particular, I argue that van Atten does not accomplish his goals due to tensions with Brouwer’s comments on second-order mathematics and because Husserl does not understand the experience of succession as Brouwer does.