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Philosophies of Mathematics

ISBN: 978-0-631-19544-3

November 2001

Wiley-Blackwell

256 pages

Description
This book provides an accessible, critical introduction to the three main approaches that dominated work in the philosophy of mathematics during the twentieth century: logicism, intuitionism and formalism.
About the Author

Alexander George is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Amherst College. He is editor of Reflections on Chomsky (1989) Western State Terrorism (1991) and Mathematics and Mind (1994).

Daniel J. Velleman is Professor of Mathematics at Amherst College. He is author of How to Prove It: A Structured Approach (1994) and co-author of Which Way Did the Bicycle Go? And Other Intriguing Mathematical Mysteries (with Joseph Konhauser and Stan Wagon, 1996).

Features

  • Systematically presents both philosophical and mathematical aspects of the three central approaches to mathematics: logicism, intuitionism, and formalism.

  • Requires only that students have a basic familiarity with quantificational logic and very fundamental parts of set theory and analysis.

  • Comprehensive and accessible.