Kurt Godel: Collected Works: Volume IV - Softcover

Gödel, Kurt

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ISBN 10: 019968961X ISBN 13: 9780199689613

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

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Kurt Godel (1906 - 1978) was the most outstanding logician of the twentieth century, famous for his hallmark works on the completeness of logic, the incompleteness of number theory, and the consistency of the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis. He is also noted for his work on constructivity, the decision problem, and the foundations of computability theory, as well as for the strong individuality of his writings on the philosophy of mathematics. He is less well known for his discovery of unusual cosmological models for Einstein's equations, in theory permitting time travel into the past.

The Collected Works is a landmark resource that draws together a lifetime of creative thought and accomplishment. The first two volumes were devoted to Godel's publications in full (both in original and translation), and the third volume featured a wide selection of unpublished articles and lecture texts found in Godel's Nachlass. The final two volumes contain Godel's correspondence of logical, philosophical, and scientific interest. Volume IV, published for the first time in paperback, covers A to G, with H to Z in volume V; in addition, Volume V contains a full inventory of Godel's Nachlass. All volumes include introductory notes that provide extensive explanatory and historical commentary on each body of work, English translations of material originally written in German (some transcribed from the Gabelsberger shorthand), and a complete bibliography of all works cited.

Kurt Godel: Collected Works is designed to be useful and accessible to as wide an audience as possible without sacrificing scientific or historical accuracy. The only comprehensive edition of Godel's work available, it will be an essential part of the working library of professionals and students in logic, mathematics, philosophy, history of science, and computer science and all others who wish to be acquainted with one of the great minds of the twentieth century.

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About the Author

Kurt Godel

Solomon Feferman is Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy at Stanford University.

John W. Dawson is Professor of Mathematics at Penn State York University.

Warren Goldfarb is Walter Beverly Pearson Professor of Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Logic at Harvard University.

Charles Parsons is Edgar Pierce Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Harvard University.

Wilfried Sieg is Patrick Suppes Professor of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon Unviersity.

Review

Review from other book by this author: "Godel would probably have been pleased ... The set should be of interest to professionals and students in the area of logic, mathematics, philosophy, history of science, computer science and to some non-specialists with a background in science and/or
logic. For all university level libraries and for large public and college library collections."

--New Technical Books, New York Public Library (January 1987)

"This book (Volume I) is unique, and every philosopher or historian of logic will be determined to possess it."

--Nature

"This is the second volume of this impressive series of Godel's works ... this second volume of his published works is really fundamental, as it was only in this period that Godel decided to make public some traits of his philosophical position ... The introductory note to these writings, by
R. Solovay, seems to me historically and technically superb. I congratulate the editorial team for including in this volume the improved 1972 version of the Dialectica paper of 1958 on finitary mathematics ... As a whole, the book is absolutely indispensable for anyone interested in Godel's ideas,
or generally on the history and philosophy of logic and mathematics."

--Modern Logic, Volume 4, no. 3 (July 1994)

"These volumes contain, as well as the doctoral dissertation and a hitherto unpublished revision of a translation of the Dialectica paper, all of Godel's work printed in his lifetime. The volumes are meticulously edited and are a pleasure to consult. Original page numbers are clearly shown;
papers written in German are printed with facing translations."

--Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society, 24 (1992)

"Anyone interested in the life and work of Kurt Godel, or in the history of mathematical logic in this century, is indebted to all of the contributors to this volume (volume I)for the care with which they have presented Godel's work. They have succeeded in using their own expertise to
elucidate both the nature and the significance of what Godel and, in turn, mathematical logic have accomplished. From the example of this first volume, the edition promises to be a model of its kind; virtually nothing could be bettered. Feferman and his team are to be congratulated on the care,
sureness of touch, and scholarly accuracy with which they have carried out their task"

--Mind

"It is a fascinating and enduringly important collection, superbly well-edited, each paper being prefaced with an excellent intoduction providing background information, summaries of the arguments and, where necessary, criticisms of the views expressed. The editors are to be wholeheartedly
congratulated on bringing to the public work which deserves careful study and which ought to do something to revitalise the philosophy of mathematics by presenting a point of view that, unusually, combines intellectual rigour with a willingness to make bold and metaphysical claims."

--Times Higher Education Supplement, 15 March 1996

"This is the third volume of a comprehensive and critical edition of the works of Kurt Godel. . .All these essays and lectures are most carefully written and remarkably rich. They give considerable insight into Godel's own achievements in logic, set theory and physics and also into his
philosophical views. . . .This volume was a desideratum for a long time. We also hope very strongly that volume 3 is not the last volume."

--Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 1997

"The book (Volume III) ... will certainly enlarge our appreciation of Godel's scientific and philosophical thought as well as our understanding of his motivations."

--Mathematical Reviews, Issue 96f

"Each item in the volume (Volume III) carries an introduction written by a leading expert, and there are detailed textual notes at the end of the book. The editorial standards are extremely high throughout"

--London Mathematical Society 1997