Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century: Selected Essays

Charles Parsons

Published by Harvard University Press 2014

Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century

Selected Essays

Charles Parsons

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674419490

Overview
Contents

About this book

In these selected essays, Charles Parsons surveys the contributions of philosophers and mathematicians who shaped the philosophy of mathematics over the past century: Brouwer, Hilbert, Bernays, Weyl, Gödel, Russell, Quine, Putnam, Wang, and Tait.

Author / Editor information

Parsons Charles :

Charles Parsons is Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

Reviews

Parsons is a much admired and highly respected philosopher of mathematics and logic, well known for his thoughtful and careful reflections on both the great historical figures and on work of the previous century. He is also an astute commentator on the current literature, engaging the contemporary debates and offering illuminating insights about its content and direction. This volume offers a unique opportunity for those not fortunate enough to have attended classes of Parsons’s to form some idea of what such an experience would be like.
-- William Demopoulos, University of Western Ontario

This is a truly superb book. Parsons is quite possibly the most distinguished writer on philosophy of mathematics now working and certainly the most careful and probing. These essays examine a rather wide range of historical opinion on mathematical matters, both with an eye to demanding more careful interpretations and formulations from important writers such as Kant or Gödel while remaining sympathetic to their overall philosophical ambitions. Parsons’s treatments are unsurpassed.
-- Mark Wilson, University of Pittsburgh

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
INTRODUCTION Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I SOME MATHEMATICIANS AS PHILOSOPHERS
1 THE KANTIAN LEGACY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY FOUNDATIONS OF MATHEMATICS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
2 REALISM AND THE DEBATE ON IMPREDICATIVITY, 1917–1944 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
POSTSCRIPT TO ESSAY 2 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	62
3 PAUL BERNAYS’LATER PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
4 KURT GÖDEL Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
5 GÖDEL’S “RUSSELL’S MATHEMATICAL LOGIC” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
6 QUINE AND GÖDEL ON ANALYTICITY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
POSTSCRIPT TO ESSAY 6 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
7 PLATONISM AND MATHEMATICAL INTUITION IN KURT GÖDEL’S THOUGHT Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
POST SCRIPT TO ESSAY 7 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
PART II CONTEMPORARIES
8 QUINE’S NOMINALISM Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
9 GENETIC EXPLANATION IN THE ROOTS OF REFERENCE Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
10 HAO WANG AS PHILOSOPHER AND INTERPRETER OF GÖDEL Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	243
11 PUTNAM ON EXISTENCE AND ONTOLOGY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
12 WILLIAM TAIT’S PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	345

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 364

eBook

Published: March 17, 2014
ISBN: 9780674419490