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Set Theory and Its Philosophy: A Critical Introduction | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Potter
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $38.58
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 287541
Media: Paperback
Pages: 360
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0199270414
Dewey Decimal Number: 511.322
EAN: 9780199270415
Publication Date: March 11, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: Brand new book delivered from the UK in 10-14 days. Over 1 million sold
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Product Description
Michael Potter presents a comprehensive new philosophical introduction to set theory. Anyone wishing to work on the logical foundations of mathematics must understand set theory, which lies at its heart. What makes the book unique is that it interweaves a careful presentation of the technical material with a penetrating philosophical critique. Potter does not merely expound the theory dogmatically but at every stage discusses in detail the reasons that can be offered for believing it to be true. Set Theory and its Philosophy is a key text for philosophy, mathematical logic, and computer science.
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| Customer Reviews:
Unique blending of mathematics and philosophy November 24, 2004
Marvin J. Greenberg (Berkeley, CA USA)
133 out of 135 found this review helpful
I believe one has to have some familiarity with logic and set theory in order to fully appreciate this wonderful book. Granting that, reading it was the first time I have ever read a mathematics book that I could hardly put down, it was so fascinating.
When I was an undergraduate, a course in naive set theory (similar in content to Halmos' classic) persuaded me to become a mathematician. But when I asked my instructor to precisely define what a 'property' of a set was, a notion that was used in the Axiom of Separation, he evaded the question as too philosophical. Much later, when I studied mathematical logic, I found a precise definition.
Michael Potter does not seem to evade any philosophical questions about set theory. The answers he proposes are given from various points of view so the reader can clearly see the differences and possibly choose the one most congenial: platonism (internal, uncritical, limiting case), constructivism, formalism (pure, postulational). I couldn't pin down exactly what is Potter's point of view except that he is not a strict formalist or a strict constructivist or an uncritical platonist.
His development of the purely mathematical part of set theory is very elegant, especially his axiomatization of the levels of the set theoretical hierarchy. Unlike most strictly mathematical texts, Potter explains why, at each major stage, he is doing what he is doing. In three appendices he also contrasts his approach with the traditional ones. I felt he did not give enough credit to the simplicity and elegance of NBG theory, so well presented in Mendelson's classic text; he is averse to introducing classes as well as sets.
His treatment is replete with fascinating history. He does not hesitate to discuss advanced results which he cannot prove in a treatment at this level, and he provides ample references if the reader is interested in pursuing them.
I am still puzzled by the nature of second order logic, which he says "decides" the continuum hypothesis, which is an undecidable statement in first order logic. I wish he had explained that more.
This is a book that I intend to re-read and to discuss with colleagues who are expert in the field. Very highly recommended.
More math books should be written like this one. July 14, 2006
galloamericanus (Podunk, Iowa)
31 out of 35 found this review helpful
I full concur with Greenberg's review. Assimilating Potter's book is also much easier if one has had a prior introduction to mathematical logic and axiomatic set theory.
Potter sets out an axiomatic set theory he calls ZU, whose axioms are: there is a ground level of sets, every level has a successor level, Infinity, and Reflection (a schema). These axioms are a perspicuous embodiment of the iterative conception of sets and the related hierarchical ontology. Potter then shows that these axioms achieve, in a fairly relaxed way, all we would want these axioms to achieve. This theory should be given an important place at the high table of foundational mathematics.
Set theory is inherently philosophical because its true subject matter is patterns in the human mind and human sensory experience (in this respect, I concur with Lakoff and Nunez). Potter is a bracing philosophical read, but be aware that there is a good deal more to the philosophy of set theory and foundational math than he lets on. His ample bibliography nicely shows the way to more reading in this vein.
Some intellectual history. In the 1960s, the mighty Dana Scott began working on a new axiomatization of set theory, grounded in type theory and the iterative conception. This work culminated in a talk he gave at a 1971 conference, whose proceedings were published in 1974. Scott was also supposed to be working on a monograph on set theory with Montague, who died in 1971, and Tarski, who died in 1983. The monograph will never appear, and Scott never fleshed out the intriguing proposals he published in 1974. Potter's book is the belated bloom of Scott set theory.
Greenberg is right about Mendelson's intro to NBG; it is a good introduction to the mechanics of axiomatic set theory, independently of Potter's book. Potter is also not as well disposed to Quinian set theory as I am.
I am puzzled by Potter's claim that Skolem arithmetic (just multiplication over the naturals) is finitely axiomatizable. Cegielski (1981) firmly asserts otherwise.
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