DOCSLIB.ORG

Poincaré's Philosophy of Mathematics and the Impossibility

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Poincaré's Philosophy of Mathematics and the Impossibility POINCARÉ’S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF BUILDING A NEW ARITHMETIC A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY KORAY AKÇAGÜNER IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY SEPTEMBER 2019 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Yaşar Kondakçı Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Ş. Halil Turan Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Assoc. Prof. M. Hilmi Demir Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. David Grunberg (METU, PHIL) Assoc. Prof. M. Hilmi Demir (METU, PHIL) Prof. Dr. H. Bülent Gözkan (MSGSU, Felsefe) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Koray Akçagüner Signature : iii ABSTRACT POINCARÉ’S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS AND THE IMPOSSIBILTY OF BUILDING A NEW ARITHMETIC AKÇAGÜNER, Koray M.A., Department of Philosophy Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. M. Hilmi Demir September 2019, 100 pages This thesis examines Poincaré’s philosophy of mathematics, in particular, his rejection of the possibility of building a new arithmetic. The invention of non- Euclidean geometries forced Kant’s philosophy of mathematics to change, leading thinkers to doubt the idea that Euclidean postulates are synthetic a priori judgments. Logicism and formalism have risen during this period, and these schools aimed to ground mathematics on a basis other than the one that was laid down by Kant. With regards to the foundations of mathematics, Poincaré adopted Kant’s philosophy and remained an intuitionist, though naturally, he had to make significant changes in Kant’s thought. Poincaré argued that the branch of mathematics that contains synthetic a priori judgments is arithmetic, which is completely independent of experience and therefore pure. What gives arithmetic its object of knowledge and justifies the use of its fundamental principles is not experience, but a pure intuition. On the other hand, Poincaré claimed that our ideas about space and the geometric postulates are not imposed upon us, that they are not known a priori but are rather conventions – “definitions in disguise”. The role experience plays in the foundations of geometry has given us the possibility of building non-Euclidean geometries. However, since arithmetic is completely independent of experience, it is not possible iv for a change similar to that in geometry to take place in arithmetic, which would alter its basic concepts or principles that we consider to be true. It is argued in this thesis that it is possible to develop the intuition which lies at the basis of arithmetic and this may become the starting point of a new arithmetic. It will be shown that this is what Cantor has actually achieved when establishing transfinite ordinal arithmetic. Keywords: Intuitionism, conventionalism, synthetic a priori, non-Euclidean geometries, transfinite arithmetic. v ÖZ POINCARÉ’NİN MATEMATİK FELSEFESİ VE YENİ BİR ARİTMETİK İNŞA ETMENİN OLANAKSIZLIĞI AKÇAGÜNER, Koray Yüksek Lisans, Felsefe Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. M. Hilmi Demir Eylül 2019, 100 sayfa Bu tez Poincaré’nin matematik felsefesini, özel olarak da kendisinin yeni bir aritmetik kurmanın imkanını reddedişini incelemektedir. Öklid-dışı geometrilerin icadı Kant’ın matematik felsefesini değişime zorlamış, düşünürleri Öklid postulatlarının sentetik a priori yargılar olduğu fikrinden şüphe duymaya itmiştir. Mantıkçılık ve biçimcilik okulları bu dönemde yükselmiş ve matematiği Kant’ın öne sürdüğü temellerden başka temellere oturtmayı amaçlamıştır. Poincaré ise matematiğin temellerine dair Kant’ın felsefesini benimsemiş ve sezgici kalmıştır; fakat elbette Kant’ın düşüncesinde köklü değişiklikler yapması gerekmiştir. Poincaré matematiğin sentetik a priori yargılar barındıran alanının, deneyimden tümüyle bağımsız ve dolayısıyla saf olan aritmetik olduğunu öne sürmüştür. Aritmetiğe bilgi nesnesini veren ve temel ilkelerinin kullanımını meşru kılan şey deneyim değil, saf bir sezgidir. Buna karşın Poincaré, uzaya dair fikirlerimizin ve geometrik postulatların ise bize dayatılmadığını, bunların a priori bilinmediğini ve aslında birtakım uzlaşımlar, “kılık değiştirmiş tanımlar” olduğunu söylemiştir. Deneyimin geometrinin temellerindeki payı bize Öklid-dışı geometriler kurmanın imkanını vermiştir; fakat aritmetik tümüyle deneyimden bağımsız olduğundan, geometridekine benzer bir değişimin aritmetikte yaşanması ve buradaki temel kavramların veya doğru kabul edilen ilkelerin değişmesi mümkün değildir. Bu tez, aritmetiğin vi temelinde yatan sezginin geliştirilebileceğini ve bunun da yeni bir aritmetiğin başlangıç noktası olabileceğini öne sürmektedir. Cantor’un sonluötesi ordinal aritmetiği kurarken esasında bunu başardığı gösterilecektir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sezgicilik, uzlaşımcılık, sentetik a priori, Öklid-dışı geometriler, sonluötesi aritmetik. vii To My Parents viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his deepest gratitude to his supervisor Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Hilmi Demir for his patience, friendship, guidance, and criticism throughout the work. The author would also like to thank Mr. Çöteli and Mr. Şahin for their assistance, and to Ms. Akgül for her kind support. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ................................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... iv ÖZ .................................................................................................................................. vi DEDICATION ............................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 2. KANT’S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS ....................................................... 4 2.1. The Distinction Between Analytic and Synthetic Judgments ...................... 5 2.2. Mathematical Propositions are Synthetic Judgments .................................. 9 2.3. The Truth of Mathematical Propositions is Known A Priori ..................... 10 2.4. Forms of Sensibility: Space and Time ........................................................ 11 2.4.1 Arithmetic and Time ........................................................................... 13 2.4.2 Geometry and Space ........................................................................... 14 2.5. Summary ..................................................................................................... 15 3. POINCARÉ’S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS ............................................ 18 3.1. The Intellectual Climate after Kant ............................................................ 18 3.2. Poincaré Against Logicism and Formalism ................................................ 21 3.3. Poincaré’s Intuitionism ............................................................................... 25 3.4. Mathematical Induction and the Intuition of Pure Number ........................ 29 3.4.1. The Intuition of Pure Number and Time ........................................... 34 3.4.2. The Difference in the Foundations of Arithmetic and Geometry ...... 36 3.5. Conventionalism in Geometry .................................................................... 38 3.5.1. Conditions for Constituting Geometry .............................................. 41 3.5.1.1. A priori Conditions ................................................................. 41 x 3.5.1.2. Empirical Conditions .............................................................. 46 3.6. Summary .................................................................................................... 50 4. CANTOR’S TRANSFINITE ORDINAL ARITHMETIC ...................................... 53 4.1. Theory of the Actual Mathematical Infinite ............................................... 56 4.1.1. Cantor’s Response to Aristotle’s Rejection of Actual Infinity .......... 58 4.1.2. The Intuition of Pure Number and Potential Infinity ........................ 61 4.2. Fundementals of Transfinite Ordinal Arithmetic ....................................... 62 4.2.1. Formal Notation................................................................................. 68 4.3. Objections to Transfinite Ordinal Arithmetic ............................................ 74 5. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 82 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • BWS Newsletter No 18 24/11/2015, 20:45
    BWS Newsletter no 18 24/11/2015, 20:45 From: British Wittgenstein Society [[email protected]] Subject: Newsletter no.18 BWS website home August 2013 BWS Newsletter Issue no 18 Contents Nota Bene The Wittgenstein-Skinner Archive Pdf version (216 kb) Nota Bene Arthur Gibson on Wittgenstein’s Conferences rediscovered archive Around the world Wittgenstein postings In early October 1941 German bombers Lecture series attacked Oakington RAF base. Victims Pastures new were rushed to hospital in Cambridge. Housekeeping The only slightly later admission of a Executive Committee polio patient was unnoticed, by-passed, being left untreated for very many hours in a corridor. This is how Wittgenstein’s closest friend Francis Skinner came to die at the age of 29. About BWS Within the week of Skinner’s funeral, in a state of trauma, Ludwig attempted to resign his Philosophy Chair; arranged to leave Cambridge for Guy’s Hospital working to fulfil his, now memorial, plan with Francis; attended Francis’ funeral; reclaimed from Skinner’s family the Wittgenstein- BWS is a British focal point for research and exchange Skinner Archive, and posted them to Skinner’s school of ideas among Wittgenstein scholars and students friend, Reuben Goodstein. Eventually Goodstein gave the throughout the world. Archive to the Mathematical Association. It was a much- appreciated invitation from the Association (and full This Newsletter will be sent exclusively to members of acknowledgement to it in references here), with the the BWS, on a regular basis, in order to draw attention support of Trinity College, for me to research and prepare to updates on the website, or to share as yet unpublished this unpublished Archive for book publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Självständiga Arbeten I Matematik
    SJÄLVSTÄNDIGA ARBETEN I MATEMATIK MATEMATISKA INSTITUTIONEN, STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET An introduction to Goodstein’s theorem av Anton Christenson 2019 - No K38 MATEMATISKA INSTITUTIONEN, STOCKHOLMS UNIVERSITET, 106 91 STOCKHOLM An introduction to Goodstein’s theorem Anton Christenson Självständigt arbete i matematik 15 högskolepoäng, grundnivå Handledare: Paul Vaderlind 2019 Abstract Goodstein’s theorem is a statement about the natural numbers, proved by Reuben Goodstein in 1944, and shown to be independent of Peano Arithmetic by Laurence Kirby and Jeff Paris in 1982. We give an intro- duction to the theorem, as well as a basic description of the two first-order theories (Peano Arithmetic and Zermelo Fraenkel set theory) relevant to our discussion of the theorem and its independence. We then develop the theory of well-ordered sets and ordinal numbers, leading in the end to a simple proof of Goodstein’s theorem. 1 Contents 1 Introduction 3 1.1 Complete base-n representations . 3 1.2 Goodstein sequences . 4 2 Prerequisites and historical context 6 2.1 Peano Arithmetic . 6 2.2 Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory . 7 2.3 Natural numbers as sets . 9 2.4 Is ZF more powerful than PA?.................... 10 2.5 History . 11 3 Well-ordered sets 11 3.1 Definition and examples . 11 3.2 Order isomorphism and initial segments . 13 3.3 Arithmetic . 13 4 Ordinal numbers 18 4.1 Counting beyond infinity . 19 4.2 Ordinals as sets . 20 4.3 Successor and limit ordinals . 22 4.4 Least upper bounds and order types . 22 4.5 Transfinite induction and recursion . 23 4.6 Ordinal arithmetic .
    [Show full text]
  • Literaturverzeichnis
    Literaturverzeichnis [1] Abian, A.: Nonstandard models for arithmetic and [14] Boole, G.; Corcoran, J.: The Laws of Thought analysis. In: Studia Logica 33 (1974), Nr. 1, S. 11–22 (Reprint). New York: Prometheus Books, 2003 [2] Ackermann, W.: Zum Hilbert’schen Aufbau der [15] Boolos, G.: A New Proof of the Gödel Incompleteness reellen Zahlen. In: Mathematische Annalen 99 (1928), Theorem. In: Notices of the American Mathematical S. 118–133 Society (1989), Nr. 36, S. 388–390 [3] Ackermann, W.: Zur Axiomatik der Mengenlehre. In: [16] Boolos, G. S.; Burgess, J. P.; Jeffrey, R. C.: Mathematische Annalen 131 (1956), August, Nr. 4, S. Computability and Logic. Cambridge: Cambridge 336–345 University Press, 2007 [4] Aliprand, J.: The Unicode Standard Version 5.0. [17] Boolos, G. S.; Jeffrey, R. C.: Computability and Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2007 Logic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989 [5] Amos, M.: Theoretical and Experimental DNA [18] The Busy Beaver Game and the Meaning of Life. Computation. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: In: Brady, A. H.: The Universal Turing Machine: A Springer-Verlag, 2005 Half Century Survey. Oxford: Oxford University [6] Baez, J.: This Week’s Finds in Mathematical Physics. Press, 1991, S. 259–277 http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/ [19] Brady, G.: From Peirce to Skolem: A Neglected week236.html Chapter in the History of Logic. Amsterdam: Elsevier [7] Bauer, Andrej: Portraitphoto von Dana Scott. Scienceg, 2000 (Studies in the History and Philosophy http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ of Mathematics) by-sa/2.5/. – Creative Commons License 2.5, [20] Burali-Forti, C.: Una questione sui numeri transfiniti.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy at Cambridge Newsletter of the Faculty of Philosophy Issue 10 May 2013
    Philosophy at Cambridge Newsletter of the Faculty of Philosophy Issue 10 May 2013 ISSN 2046-9632 From the Chair Tim Crane is to be able to fully fund all our graduate students, MPhil and PhD. The campaign has been initiated by some very generous donations from our alumni, and a brochure, Thinking Through the 21st Century: The Next Generation of Cambridge Philosophers has been produced by the University’s Development Office. For a copy of this brochure, please contact the Development Office: www.campaign.cam.ac.uk. For other inquiries about this campaign, please feel free to contact me directly. The second exciting recent development—and our major news for this year—is that we have appointed Richard Holton and Rae Langton from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to professorships in the Faculty, starting in September this year. They are both world- leading philosophers who have made substantial contributions to a number of Professors Rae Langton and Richard Holton to join the Faculty different areas of the subject. Richard works especially on the Welcome to the tenth Faculty of Philosophy the researchers of the future, they are the philosophy of mind and its connections Newsletter. Charles de Gaulle is supposed researchers of the present. with psychology and moral philosophy, to have said that if you want things to But it has become increasingly difficult including decision-making, making stay the same, you have to perpetually in recent years for graduate students up your mind, weakness of the will renew them; and in the Faculty of in philosophy to fund their education.
    [Show full text]
  • 54 Michael Cina Ramsey Is Stout and Warm, Rectangular with Rounded
    Ramsey Type Family Styles 54 Designer Michael Cina About Ramsey is stout and warm, rectangular with rounded edges, and dynamic with swift cuts. Ranging from thin and condensed to extended and black, Ramsey has seen applications in sports teams to movie titles and even art magazines. Through the years, Ramsey has proven itself to be a true workhorse of a font. This version has a lot of minor updates to the form and spacing, and we now see an ex- tended family to complete it’s legacy. Query © Public Type 2020 www.publictype.us 1 Styles Ramsey Condensed - Thin Ramsey Condensed - Thin Italic Ramsey Condensed - ExtraLight Ramsey Condensed - ExtraLight Italic Ramsey Condensed - Light Ramsey Condensed - Light Italic Ramsey Condensed - Regular Ramsey Condensed - Regular Italic Ramsey Condensed - Medium Ramsey Condensed - Medium Italic Ramsey Condensed - SemiBold Ramsey Condensed - SemiBold Italic Ramsey Condensed - Bold Ramsey Condensed - Bold Italic Ramsey Condensed - ExtraBold Ramsey Condensed - ExtraBold Italic Ramsey Condensed - Black Ramsey Condensed - Black Italic Ramsey - Thin Ramsey - Thin Italic Ramsey - ExtraLight Ramsey - ExtraLight Italic Ramsey - Light Ramsey - Light Italic Ramsey - Regular Ramsey - Regular Italic Ramsey - Medium Ramsey - Medium Italic Ramsey - SemiBold Ramsey - SemiBold Italic Ramsey - Bold Ramsey - Bold Italic Ramsey - ExtraBold Ramsey - ExtraBold Italic Ramsey - Black Ramsey - Black Italic Ramsey Extended - Thin Ramsey Extended - Thin Italic Ramsey Extended - ExtraLight Ramsey Extended - ExtraLight Italic Ramsey
    [Show full text]
  • Proving Gödel's Completeness and Incompleteness Theorems
    IARJSET ISSN (Online) 2393-8021 ISSN (Print) 2394-1588 International Advanced Research Journal in Science, Engineering and Technology Vol. 8, Issue 1, January 2021 DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2021.8109 Proving Gödel’s Completeness and Incompleteness Theorems (in restricted cases) using Sd - Topology over the theory of a Model Soham Dasgupta (Ex. PGT (Math) at Kendriya Vidyalaya Ordnance Factory, Dumdum, Kolkata, W.B , INDIA) Type: Research article ( Sub: Pure Mathematics) AMS -MSC2010 No. 03B99 Abstract: This is a modification as well as a model theoretic application of my previous paper Sd- Topology over the theory of a Model. The main intention of this article is to proof and visualize the celebrated Gödel’s completeness and incompleteness theorems in a different and lucid approach. Keywords: Theory, Theorem, Proof, Kuratowski’s Closer Operator, Topology, Sd-Topology, Gödel’s completeness and incompleteness theorems. INTRODUCTION This is a continuation and application of Sd-Topology over the theory of a Model (DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2020.71201) to provide a lucid and short proof of the famous Gödel’s completeness and incompleteness theorems. Here as we are using Sd Topology so the conditions will be restricted as the cardinality of the universe of the working model should be card 퓤 ≥ℵ0 and also the cardinality of the working theory should be card(Th 퓤)≥ card (퓤 ). The inspiration of this article also have a very deep connection with philosophy. The similar statements of the Gödel's incompleteness theorems have also been mentioned in the ancient Rigveda's 10/129th mandala as following, नासदासीन्नो सदासीत्तदानीीं नासीद्रजो नो व्योमा परो यत् | किमावरीवः िुह िस्य शममन्नम्भः किमासीद्गहनीं गभीरम् ॥ १॥ िो अद्धा वेद ि इह प्र वोचत्कुत आजाता िुत इयीं कवसृकटः | अवामग्देवा अस्य कवसजमनेनाथा िो वेद यत आबभूव ॥६॥ इयीं कवसृकटयमत आबभूव यकद वा दधे यकद वा न | यो अस्याध्यक्षः परमे व्योमन्त्सो अङ्ग वेद यकद वा न वेद ॥७॥ The meaning of these Slokas are: 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Artykuły Wittgenstein I Zagadka Anzelma
    „Analiza i Egzystencja” 23 (2013) ISSN 1734-9923 Artykuły JAkub gomułkA* WITTGENSTEIN I ZAGADKA ANZELMA Słowa kluczowe: ludwig wittgenstein, Anzelm, cora diamond, bóg, paradoks, ateizm keywords: ludwig wittgenstein, Anselm, cora diamond, god, paradox, atheism Zamierzam przedstawić tu pewne, być może na pierwszy rzut oka zaska- kujące, zestawienie. Z jednej strony chcę wskazać na kluczowy – moim zdaniem – fragment Wittgensteinowskiego Wykładu o etyce, w którym ujawnia się paradoksalność mówienia o wartościach absolutnych, z drugiej na podstawowy – jak sądzę – problem Proslogionu Anzelma z Canterbury. Problemem tym jest niemożność ustalenia odniesienia sławnego wyrażenia: „to, ponad co nic większego nie może być pomyślane”, a w konsekwencji jego dość niejasny status semantyczny. Celem tego zestawienia jest próba zarysowania odpowiedzi na pytanie o sposób funkcjonowania w naszym języku takich pojęć, jak „Bóg”, „Absolut”, „dobro” i im podobnych. W części pierwszej zaprezentuję Wykład Wittgensteina na tle jego wczesnej filozofii języka (na której wyrósł). Postawię tezę, że paradoks * Jakub Gomułka – doktor filozofii, adiunkt w Katedrze Filozofii Boga Wydziału Filozoficznego Uniwersytetu Papieskiego Jana Pawła II w Krakowie. Interesuje się prob- lematyką języka, świadomości, religii i Boga oraz zagadnieniem możliwości połączenia perspektywy fenomenologicznej i analitycznej w filozofii. Email: jakub.gomulka@gmail. com. 72 Jakub gomułka stanowiący osnowę tego tekstu ujawnia apofatyczny charakter myśli Wittgensteina (przynajmniej wczesnego). W
    [Show full text]
  • Impossible?: Surprising Solutions to Counterintuitive Conundrums
    Impossible? Impossible? SURPRISING SOLUTIONS TO COUNTERINTUITIVE CONUNDRUMS Julian Havil PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright © 2008 by Julian Havil Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Havil, Julian, 1952– Impossible? : surprising solutions to counterintuitive conundrums / Julian Havil. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-691-13131-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Mathematics–Miscellanea. 2. Paradox–Mathematics. 3. Problem solving–Miscellanea. I. Title. QA99.H379 2008 510–dc22 2007051792 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This book has been composed in LucidaBright Typeset by T&T Productions Ltd, London Printed on acid-free paper ∞ press.princeton.edu Printed in the United States of America 13579108642 In appreciation of the incomparable Martin Gardner Martin Gardner has turned dozens of innocent young- sters into math professors and thousands of math pro- fessors into innocent youngsters. Persi Diaconis Medicine makes people ill, mathematics makes them sad, and theology makes them sinful. Martin Luther I am a mathematician to this extent: I can follow triple integrals if they are done slowly on a large blackboard by a personal friend. J. W. McReynolds I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. Robert McCloskey All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed.
    [Show full text]
  • S. Barry Cooper (1943-2015)
    Computability 7 (2018) 103–131 103 DOI 10.3233/COM-180092 IOS Press S. Barry Cooper (1943–2015) Richard Elwes School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, England [email protected] Andy Lewis-Pye Department of Mathematics, Columbia House, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, England [email protected] Benedikt Löwe Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Postbus 94242, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands Fachbereich Mathematik, Universität Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany Churchill College & Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, Storey’s Way, Cambridge, CB3 0DS, England [email protected] Dugald Macpherson School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, England [email protected] Dag Normann Matematisk Institutt, Universitetet i Oslo, Postboks 1053, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway [email protected] Andrea Sorbi Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione e Scienze Matematiche, Università di Siena, Via Roma 56, 53100 Siena, Italy [email protected] Alexandra A. Soskova Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Sofia University, 5 James Bourchier Blvd, 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria [email protected] Mariya I. Soskova Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 480 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America [email protected] Peter van Emde Boas Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Postbus 94242, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands [email protected] Stan Wainer School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, England [email protected] Barry’s life and work were incredibly multi-faceted, ranging from research in pure mathematics via interests in artificial intelligence to long-distance running and jazz.
    [Show full text]
  • Inconsistency Robustness in Foundations Carl Hewitt
    Inconsistency Robustness in Foundations Carl Hewitt To cite this version: Carl Hewitt. Inconsistency Robustness in Foundations: Mathematics self proves its own formal con- sistency and other matters. Carl Hewitt, John Woods. Inconsistency Robustness, 52, College Publi- cations, 2015, Studies in logic, 978-1-84890-159-9. hal-01148293v12 HAL Id: hal-01148293 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01148293v12 Submitted on 3 Aug 2016 (v12), last revised 24 Jan 2017 (v17) HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Copyright Inconsistency Robustness in Foundations: Mathematics self proves its own formal consistency and other matters Carl Hewitt This article is dedicated to Alonzo Church, Richard Dedekind, Stanisław Jaśkowski, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Ernst Zermelo. Abstract Inconsistency Robustness is performance of information systems with pervasively inconsistent information. Inconsistency Robustness of the community of professional mathematicians is their performance repeatedly repairing contradictions over the centuries. In the Inconsistency Robustness paradigm, deriving contradictions have been a progressive development and not “game stoppers.” Contradictions can be helpful instead of being something to be “swept under the rug” by denying their existence, which has been repeatedly attempted by establishment philosophers (beginning with some Pythagoreans).
    [Show full text]
  • Extended Introduction with Online Resources
    Extended Introduction with Online Resources Mircea Pitici This is the sixth anthology in our series of recent writings on mathemat- ics selected from professional journals, general interest publications, and Internet sources. All pieces were first published in 2014, roughly in the form we reproduce (with one exception). Most of the volume is accessible to readers who do not have advanced training in mathematics but are curious to read well- informed commentaries about it. What do I want by sending this book into the world? What kind of experience I want the readers to have? On previous occasions I answered these questions in detail. To summarize anew my intended goal and my vision underlying this series, I use an extension of Lev Vygotsky’s con- cept of “zone of proximate development.” Vygotsky thought that a child learns optimally in the twilight zone where knowing and not know- ing meet—where she builds on already acquired knowledge and skills, through social interaction with adults who impart new knowledge and assist in honing new skills. Adapting this idea, I can say that I aspire to make the volumes in this series ripe for an optimal impact in the imagi- nary zone of proximal reception of their prospective audience. This means that the topics of some contributions included in these books might be familiar to some readers but novel and instructive for others. Every reader will find intriguing pieces here. Besides offering a curated collection of articles, each book in this series doubles into a reference work of sorts, for the recent nontechni- cal writings on mathematics—with the caveat that I decline any claim to being comprehensive in this attempt.
    [Show full text]
  • Wittgenstein Contro Gödel
    Wittgenstein contro G¨odel∗ Gabriele Lolli Nel coro di esaltazioni dell'importanza (logica,matematica, filosofica, co- gnitiva) dei teoremi di incompletezza di Kurt G¨odel1, l'unica voce fuori dal coro `e,nel corso del xx secolo, quella di Ludwig Wittgenstein. La pubblicazione nel 1956 delle Osservazioni sui fondamenti della mate- matica2, scritte nel 1937-44, gett`onello sconforto gli estimatori di Wittgen- stein, proprio per le osservazioni su G¨odel,contenute nell'Appendice I alla prima parte e nella Parte V, xx16 sgg. (altre sono nel Nachlass). La prima manifestazione pubblica del disagio provocato da Wittgenstein si ebbe con la recensione di Alan Ross Anderson, che concludeva: Wittgenstein ha avuto una profonda influenza sulla filosofia del ventesimo secolo [. ] C'`eda dubitare seriamente che l'applica- zione del suo metodo alle questioni di filosofia della matematica dar`aun contributo sostanziale alla sua reputazione come filosofo3. I giudizi negativi sono poi ripetuti. Georg Kreisel ricorda: Rimasi molto colpito dalle Osservazioni sui fondamenti della ma- tematica, quando furono pubblicate, specialmente da quelle sui teoremi di incompletezza di G¨odel [. ]. D'accordo che Wittgen- stein ha spesso enunciato (in frasi stilisticamente perfette) idee ∗Apparso nella pubblicazione fuori commercio WMI 2000 - Anno mondiale della matematica, Bollati Boringhieri, 2000, pp. 32-9. 1Il lavoro del 1931, \Uber¨ formal unentscheidbare S¨atzeder Principia Mathematica und verwandte Systeme I", con i due teoremi di incompletezza si pu`otrovare in K. G¨odel, Opere I , Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 1999, pp. 113-38. 2L. Wittgenstein, Bemerkungen ¨uber die Grundlagen der Mathematik - Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics (1937-44), Blackwell, Oxford, 1956; trad.
    [Show full text]