 What tends to get in the way is that the set-theoretic and infinitary methodology Dedekind championed was so successful, and shaped twentieth-century mathematics so much, that it is hard to reach the analytic distance needed. Often all one gets, then, are platitudes: that it is very “general” and “abstract”. Or one is left with negative characterizations: that it fails to be finitistically and constructively acceptable. Beyond that, there is the suggestion that Dedekind’s approach is “structuralist”.  But as this term is now used to characterize a methodology, rather than a metaphysical position, one wonders what exactly it involves. Before attempting a clarification and elaboration, let us briefly consider some of Dedekind’s other mathematical works, since this will make certain crucial features stand out more.