I discuss Skolem's own ideas on his 'paradox', some classical disputes between Skolemites and Antiskolemites, and the underlying notion of 'informal mathematics', from a point of view which I hope to be rather unusual. I argue that the Skolemite cannot maintain that from an absolute point of view everything is in fact denumerable; on the other hand, the Antiskolemite is left with the onus of explaining the notion of informal mathematical knowledge of the intended model of set theory. I conclude that one must take seriously the embodiment of the uncountable into countable languages, as a symptom of some specific features which characterize mathematical languages with respect to other languages.

Skolem, the Skolem 'paradox' and informal mathematics

BELLOTTI, LUCA
2006-01-01

Abstract

I discuss Skolem's own ideas on his 'paradox', some classical disputes between Skolemites and Antiskolemites, and the underlying notion of 'informal mathematics', from a point of view which I hope to be rather unusual. I argue that the Skolemite cannot maintain that from an absolute point of view everything is in fact denumerable; on the other hand, the Antiskolemite is left with the onus of explaining the notion of informal mathematical knowledge of the intended model of set theory. I conclude that one must take seriously the embodiment of the uncountable into countable languages, as a symptom of some specific features which characterize mathematical languages with respect to other languages.
2006
Bellotti, Luca
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/103538
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