Books by Jan von Plato

This volume contains English translations of Gödel's chapters on logicism and the antinomies and on the calculi of pure logic, as well as outlines for a chapter on metamathematics. It also comprises most of his reading notes. This book is a testimony to Gödel's understanding of the situation of foundational research in mathematics after his great discovery, the incompleteness theorem of 1931. It is also a source for his views on his logical predecessors, from Leibniz, Frege, and Russell to his own times. Gödel's "own book on foundations," as he called it, is essential reading for logicians and philosophers interested in foundations. Furthermore, it opens a new chapter to the life and achievement of one of the icons of 20th century science and philosophy.

Kurt Goedel (1906-1978) shook the mathematical world in 1931 by a result that has become an icon of 20th century science: The search for rigour in proving mathematical theorems had led to the formalization of mathematical proofs, to the extent that such proving could be reduced to the application of a few mechanical rules.

Gerhard Gentzen is best known for his development of the proof systems of natural deduction and sequent calculus, central in many areas of logic and computer science today.