"The remarkable theorem of incompleteness uncovered an unbridgeable gap in all attempts to systematize mathematical reasoning, a result that appears almost paradoxical."
Kurt Gödel is considered the greatest logician since Aristotle. His monumental theorem of incompleteness demonstrated that in every formal system of arithmetic there are true statements that nevertheless cannot be proved. The result was an upheaval that spread far beyond mathematics, challenging conceptions of the nature of the mind.
Rebecca Goldstein, a MacArthurwinning novelist and philosopher, explains the philosophical vision that inspired Gödel's mathematics, and reveals the ironic twist that led to radical misinterpretations of his theorems by the trendier intellectual fashions of the day, from positivism to postmodernism.
Ironically, both he and his close friend Einstein felt themselves intellectual exiles, even as their work was cited as among the most important in twentiethcentury thought. For Gödel , the sense of isolation would have tragic consequences.
This lucid and accessible study makes Gödel's theorem and its mindbending implications comprehensible to the general audience, while bringing this eccentric, tortured genius and his world to life.
May 17th, 2007
http://www.isepp.org/Pages/0607%20Pa...