From Frege to Gödel

From Frege to Gödel
Author: Jean van Heijenoort
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 684
Release: 2002-01-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0674257243

The fundamental texts of the great classical period in modern logic, some of them never before available in English translation, are here gathered together for the first time. Modern logic, heralded by Leibniz, may be said to have been initiated by Boole, De Morgan, and Jevons, but it was the publication in 1879 of Gottlob Frege’s Begriffsschrift that opened a great epoch in the history of logic by presenting, in full-fledged form, the propositional calculus and quantification theory. Frege’s book, translated in its entirety, begins the present volume. The emergence of two new fields, set theory and foundations of mathematics, on the borders of logic, mathematics, and philosophy, is depicted by the texts that follow. Peano and Dedekind illustrate the trend that led to Principia Mathematica. Burali-Forti, Cantor, Russell, Richard, and König mark the appearance of the modern paradoxes. Hilbert, Russell, and Zermelo show various ways of overcoming these paradoxes and initiate, respectively, proof theory, the theory of types, and axiomatic set theory. Skolem generalizes Löwenheim’s theorem, and he and Fraenkel amend Zermelo’s axiomatization of set theory, while von Neumann offers a somewhat different system. The controversy between Hubert and Brouwer during the twenties is presented in papers of theirs and in others by Weyl, Bernays, Ackermann, and Kolmogorov. The volume concludes with papers by Herbrand and by Gödel, including the latter’s famous incompleteness paper. Of the forty-five contributions here collected all but five are presented in extenso. Those not originally written in English have been translated with exemplary care and exactness; the translators are themselves mathematical logicians as well as skilled interpreters of sometimes obscure texts. Each paper is introduced by a note that sets it in perspective, explains its importance, and points out difficulties in interpretation. Editorial comments and footnotes are interpolated where needed, and an extensive bibliography is included.

Essays in the Philosophy and History of Logic and Mathematics

Essays in the Philosophy and History of Logic and Mathematics
Author: Roman Murawski
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2015-06-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9042030917

The book is a collection of the author’s selected works in the philosophy and history of logic and mathematics. Papers in Part I include both general surveys of contemporary philosophy of mathematics as well as studies devoted to specialized topics, like Cantor's philosophy of set theory, the Church thesis and its epistemological status, the history of the philosophical background of the concept of number, the structuralist epistemology of mathematics and the phenomenological philosophy of mathematics. Part II contains essays in the history of logic and mathematics. They address such issues as the philosophical background of the development of symbolism in mathematical logic, Giuseppe Peano and his role in the creation of contemporary logical symbolism, Emil L. Post's works in mathematical logic and recursion theory, the formalist school in the foundations of mathematics and the algebra of logic in England in the 19th century. The history of mathematics and logic in Poland is also considered. This volume is of interest to historians and philosophers of science and mathematics as well as to logicians and mathematicians interested in the philosophy and history of their fields.

Principia Mathematica

Principia Mathematica
Author: Alfred North Whitehead
Publisher:
Total Pages: 688
Release: 1910
Genre: Logic, Symbolic and mathematical
ISBN:

The Development of Mathematical Logic

The Development of Mathematical Logic
Author: P. H. Nidditch
Publisher: Burns & Oates
Total Pages: 100
Release: 1998
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN:

This is a clear and straightforward summary of the history of formal logic from the time of Aristotle to that of Godel. Nidditch discusses the four main trends at the root of modern logic: Aristotle's theory of the syllogism; the idea of a universal language; the idea of the parts of mathematics forming deductive systems; and the discoveries in mathematics in the early nineteenth century. He goes on to outline the chief ideas and theories of the main writers on mathematical logic, including Jevons, Peirce, Boole, Russell, and Whitehead. The text is easy to read and gives the beginning student a valuable perspective on mathematical logic.