Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Readings - Paperback

by Paul Benacerraf (Author), Hilary Putnam (Author), Hilary Benacerraf (Editor)

The twentieth century has witnessed an unprecedented 'crisis in the foundations of mathematics', featuring a world-famous paradox (Russell's Paradox), a challenge to 'classical' mathematics from a world-famous mathematician (the 'mathematical intuitionism' of Brouwer), a new foundational school (Hilbert's Formalism), and the profound incompleteness results of Kurt Gödel. In the same period, the cross-fertilization of mathematics and philosophy resulted in a new sort of 'mathematical philosophy', associated most notably (but in different ways) with Bertrand Russell, W. V. Quine, and Gödel himself, and which remains at the focus of Anglo-Saxon philosophical discussion. The present collection brings together in a convenient form the seminal articles in the philosophy of mathematics by these and other major thinkers. It is a substantially revised version of the edition first published in 1964 and includes a revised bibliography. The volume will be welcomed as a major work of reference at this level in the field.

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In a similar vein, we tried also to narrow the range of philosophical issues discussed in the selection ones that could most easily be recognized as concerning the philosophy of mathematics. Both of these admittedly loose principles served as guidelines only; but any attempt to observe them inevitably constrains the range of literature available for consideration.