Mathematics and Mind [Hardcover]

Those inquiring into the nature of mind have long been interested in the foundations of mathematics, and conversely this branch of knowledge is distinctive in that our access to it is purely through thought. A better understanding of mathematical thought should clarify the conceptual foundations of mathematics, and a deeper grasp of the latter should in turn illuminate the powers of mind through which mathematics is made available to us. The link between conceptions of mind and of mathematics has been a central theme running through the great competing philosophies of mathematics of the twentieth century, though each has refashioned the connection and its import in distinctive ways. The present collection will be of interest to students of both mathematics and of mind. Contents include: Introduction by Alexander George; What is Mathematics About? by Michael Dummett; The Advantages of Honest Toil over Theft by George Boolos; The Law of Excluded Middle and the Axiom of Choice by W.W. Tait; Mechanical Procedures and Mathematical Experience by Wilfried Sieg; Mathematical Intuition and Objectivity by Daniel Isaacson; Intuition and Number by Charles Parsons; and Hilbert's Axiomatic Method and the Laws of Thought by Michael Hallett.

The volume contains extremely interesting papers of high quality on the philosophy of mathematics. The book is compact, and a number of central philosophers of mathematics are discussed in detail. --Modern Logic

It includes several papers worthy of careful study. --Journal of Symbolic Logic