On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems. Translated by B. Meltzer. Introduction by R. B. Braithwaite.

GÖDEL, Kurt (1906-1978):

Published by New York: Basic Books, 1962.

About this Item

First Edition in English, American issue, of 'Über formal unentscheidbare Sätze der Principia Mathematica und verwandter Systeme' (Monatshefte fur Mathematik und Physik, xxxviii (1931), pp. 173-98). viii, 72 pp. Original cloth-backed boards. Lower corner of rear board slightly bumped and cracked, paper clip attached to p. 33/34. Else Very Good, without dust jacket. "Gödel is best known for his proof of 'Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems'. In 1931 he published these results in Über formal unentscheidbare Sätze der Principia Mathematica und verwandter Systeme. He proved fundamental results about axiomatic systems, showing in any axiomatic mathematical system there are propositions that cannot be proved or disproved within the axioms of the system. In particular the consistency of the axioms cannot be proved. This ended a hundred years of attempts to establish axioms which would put the whole of mathematics on an axiomatic basis. One major attempt had been by Bertrand Russell with Principia Mathematica (1910-13). Another was Hilbert's formalism which was dealt a severe blow by Gödel's results. The theorem did not destroy the fundamental idea of formalism, but it did demonstrate that any system would have to be more comprehensive than that envisaged by Hilbert. Gödel's results were a landmark in 20th-century mathematics, showing that mathematics is not a finished object, as had been believed. It also implies that a computer can never be programmed to answer all mathematical questions" (MacTutor History of Mathematics Web site).

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems. Translated by B. Meltzer. Introduction by R. B. Braithwaite.
• Publisher: New York: Basic Books, 1962.
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition