Reflections on the Foundations of Mathematics
Description
This edited work presents contemporary mathematical practice in the foundational mathematical theories, in particular set theory and the univalent foundations. It shares the work of significant scholars across the disciplines of mathematics, philosophy and computer science. Readers will discover systematic thought on criteria for a suitable foundation in mathematics and philosophical reflections around the mathematical perspectives.
The volume is divided into three sections, the first two of which focus on the two most prominent candidate theories for a foundation of mathematics. Readers may trace current research in set theory, which has widely been assumed to serve as a framework for foundational issues, as well as new material elaborating on the univalent foundations, considering an approach based on homotopy type theory (HoTT). The third section then builds on this and is centred on philosophical questions connected to the foundations of mathematics. Here, the authors contribute to discussions on foundational criteria with more general thoughts on the foundations of mathematics which are not connected to particular theories.
This book shares the work of some of the most important scholars in the fields of set theory (S. Friedman), non-classical logic (G. Priest) and the philosophy of mathematics (P. Maddy). The reader will become aware of the advantages of each theory and objections to it as a foundation, following the latest and best work across the disciplines and it is therefore a valuable read for anyone working on the foundations of mathematics or in the philosophy of mathematics.
Reviews / Votes
"This volume is incredibly rich and varied. ... this collection is as timely as it can be, and the editors clearly did an amazing job in putting it together. It is a fine addition to any departmental library, and any scholar interested in these topics will find new interesting ideas in all the contributions of this volume. " (Matteo de Ceglie, Studia Logica, July 17, Vol. 113 (1), 2025)
"The volume succeeds in presenting a pleasantly non-biased, balanced, and multi-faceted selection of papers which does not convey the impression that any one particular approach or school would be too dominant. . The volume is well-edited and curated. The many cross-references amongst the contributions help one appreciate the volume as something more than the mere sum of its parts, after all, conveying the feel of an actual ongoing discussion." (Hans-Christoph Kotzsch, Philosophia Mathematica, Vol. 30 (1), February, 2022)
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Deborah Kant studied mathematics at Free University and Humboldt University in Berlin, and specialized in set theory and logic. At the DMV Students' Conference 2015 in Hamburg, her talk about her master's thesis "Cardinal Sequences in ZFC" was being awarded. Since 2015, she is a PhD student at the Humboldt University Berlin under the supervision of Karl-Georg Niebergall with a project on naturalness inset theory.
Deniz Sarikaya is PhD-Student of Philosophy (BA: 2012, MA: 2016) and studies Mathematics (BA: 2015) at the University of Hamburg with experience abroad at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and Universidad de Barcelona. He stayed a term as a Visiting Student Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley developing a project on the Philosophy of Mathematical Practice concerning the Philosophical impact of the usage of automatic theorem prover and as a RISE research intern at the University of British Columbia. He is mainly focusing on philosophy of mathematics and logic.