Wittgenstein, Finitism, and the Foundations of Mathematics

Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-19-955047-0
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 282 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 359 g

Mathieu Marion offers a careful, historically informed study of Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics. This area of his work has frequently been undervalued by Wittgenstein specialists and by philosophers of mathematics alike; but the surprising fact that he wrote more on this subject than on any other indicates its centrality in his thought. Marion traces the development of Wittgenstein's thinking in the context of the mathematical and philosophical work of the times, to make coherent sense of ideas that have too often been misunderstood because they have been presented in a disjointed and incomplete way. In particular, he illuminates the work of the neglected 'transitional period' between the Tractatus and the Investigations. Marion shows that study of Wittgenstein's writings on mathematics is essential to a proper understanding of his philosophy; and he also demonstrates that it has much to contribute to current debates about the foundations of mathematics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Marion, Mathieu

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: Wittgenstein's Anti-Platonism

- 2: Logicism without Classes

- 3: Arbitrary Functions

- 4: Quantification and Finitism

- 5: From Truth-Functional Logic to a Logic of Equations

- 6: Philosophy and Logical Foundations

- 7: The Continuum

- 8: Strict Finitism

- Bibliography

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Mathieu Marion holds the Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics at the University of Quebec, Montreal.