Overview

Richard Tieszen presents an analysis, development, and defense of a number of central ideas in Kurt Gödel's writings on the philosophy and foundations of mathematics and logic. Tieszen structures the argument around Gödel's three philosophical heroes - Plato, Leibniz, and Husserl - and his engagement with Kant, and supplements close readings of Gödel's texts on foundations with materials from Gödel's Nachlass and from Hao Wang's discussions with Gödel. As well as providing discussions of Gödel's views on the philosophical significance of his technical results on completeness, incompleteness, undecidability, consistency proofs, speed-up theorems, and independence proofs, Tieszen furnishes a detailed analysis of Gödel's critique of Hilbert and Carnap, and of his subsequent turn to Husserl's transcendental philosophy in 1959. On this basis, a new type of platonic rationalism that requires rational intuition, called 'constituted platonism', is developed and defended. Tieszen shows how constituted platonism addresses the problem of the objectivity of mathematics and of the knowledge of abstract mathematical objects. Finally, he considers the implications of this position for the claim that human minds ('monads') are machines, and discusses the issues of pragmatic holism and rationalism.

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9780199606207

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The book also presents in a very readable way the main sources of Goedel's speculations, in particular, Leibniz' rationalism and Husserl's phenomenology. It has been clear for some years that Goedel did not hold the caricatured platonism that has often been attributed to him. But Tieszen certainly gives the most extensive analysis of Goedel's texts on the question of platonism and, in my eyes, definitely establishes the depth and qualifications of Goedel's reflections upon the question of mathematical objectivity. The time is over when Goedel's name could be attached to the scarecrow of an unmitigated Platonism that one sets aside at the beginning of a paper. --Pierre Cassou-Nogues, History and Philosophy of Logic

The book also presents in a very readable way the main sources of Godel's speculations, in particular, Leibniz' rationalism and Husserl's phenomenology. It has been clear for some years that Godel did not hold the caricatured platonism that has often been attributed to him. But Tieszen certainly gives the most extensive analysis of Godel's texts on the question of platonism and, in my eyes, definitely establishes the depth and qualifications of Godel's reflections upon the question of mathematical objectivity. The time is over when Godel's name could be attached to the scarecrow of an unmitigated Platonism that one sets aside at the beginning of a paper. --Pierre Cassou-Nogues, History and Philosophy of Logic

The book also presents in a very readable way the main sources of Goedel's speculations, in particular, Leibniz' rationalism and Husserl's phenomenology. It has been clear for some years that Goedel did not hold the caricatured platonism that has often been attributed to him. But Tieszen certainly gives the most extensive analysis of Goedel's texts on the question of platonism and, in my eyes, definitely establishes the depth and qualifications of Goedel's reflections upon the question of mathematical objectivity. The time is over when Goedel's name could be attached to the scarecrow of an unmitigated Platonism that one sets aside at the beginning of a paper. --Pierre Cassou-Nogues, History and Philosophy of Logic

The book also presents in a very readable way the main sources of Godel's speculations, in particular, Leibniz' rationalism and Husserl's phenomenology. It has been clear for some years that Godel did not hold the caricatured platonism that has often been attributed to him. But Tieszen certainly gives the most extensive analysis of Godel's texts on the question of platonism and, in my eyes, definitely establishes the depth and qualifications of Godel's reflections upon the question of mathematical objectivity. The time is over when Godel's name could be attached to the scarecrow of an unmitigated Platonism that one sets aside at the beginning of a paper. --Pierre Cassou-Nogues, History and Philosophy of Logic The book also presents in a very readable way the main sources of Godel's speculations, in particular, Leibniz' rationalism and Husserl's phenomenology. It has been clear for some years that Godel did not hold the caricatured platonism that has often been attributed to him. But Tieszen certainly gives the most extensive analysis of Godel's texts on the question of platonism and, in my eyes, definitely establishes the depth and qualifications of Godel's reflections upon the question of mathematical objectivity. The time is over when Godel's name could be attached to the scarecrow of an unmitigated Platonism that one sets aside at the beginning of a paper. --Pierre Cassou-Nogues, History and Philosophy of Logic

Author Information

Richard Tieszen is the author of Phenomenology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics and Mathematical Intuition, along with numerous papers and reviews on the philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of logic, and phenomenology. He co-edited Between Logic and Intuition: Essays in Honor of Charles Parsons, and is Professor of Philosophy at San José State University in California.

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