To turn again briefly to the question of number in its 
more limited manifestation, Dantzig, having made clear that 
the idea of homogeneity had to come before primitive numbers 
could be advanced to the level of mathematics, points to 
another literate and visual factor in the older mathematics. 
“Correspondence and succession, the two principles which 
permeate all mathematics—nay, all realms of exact thought—
are woven into the very fabric of our number system,” he 
observes. So, indeed, are they woven into the very fabric of 
Western logic and philosophy. We have already seen how the 
phonetic technology fostered visual continuity and individual 
point of view, and how these contributed to the rise of uniform 
Euclidean space. Dantzig says that it is the idea of 
correspondence which gives us cardinal numbers. Both of these 
spatial ideas—lineality and point of view—come with writing, 
especially with phonetic writing; but neither is necessary in our