Strict Finitism and the Logic of Mathematical Applications

Ye Feng

ISBN 10: 9400736312 / ISBN 13: 9789400736313

Published by Springer, 2013

About this Item

Print on Demand pp. 286 49:B&W 6.14 x 9.21 in or 234 x 156 mm (Royal 8vo) Perfect Bound on White w/Gloss Lam.

Seller Inventory # 96338483

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Strict Finitism and the Logic of Mathematical Applications
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9400736312
• ISBN 13: 9789400736313
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book intends to show that radical naturalism (or physicalism), nominalism and strict finitism account for the applications of classical mathematics in current scientific theories. The applied mathematical theories developed in the book include the basics of calculus, metric space theory, complex analysis, Lebesgue integration, Hilbert spaces, and semi-Riemann geometry (sufficient for the applications in classical quantum mechanics and general relativity). The fact that so much applied mathematics can be developed within such a weak, strictly finitistic system, is surprising in itself. It also shows that the applications of those classical theories to the finite physical world can be translated into the applications of strict finitism, which demonstrates the applicability of those classical theories without assuming the literal truth of those theories or the reality of infinity.

Both professional researchers and students of philosophy of mathematics will benefit greatly from reading this book.

About the Author

Feng Ye is a professor of philosophy at Peking University, China. He has a B.S. degree in mathematics from Xiamen University, China, and a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Princeton University, U.S.A.. His research areas include constructive and finitistic mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, and philosophy of mind and language. He used to prove, for the first time, a constructive version of the spectral theorem and Stone’s theorem for unbounded linear operators on Hilbert spaces. He is currently developing a radically naturalistic, nominalistic, and strictly finitistic philosophy of mathematics, a naturalistic theory of content, and a naturalistic interpretation of modality. His research articles have been published in The Journal of Symbolic Logic, Philosophia Mathematica, and Synthese, among others. He is also the author of the book Philosophy of Mathematics in the 20th Century: a Naturalistic Commentary (in Chinese, Peking University Press, 2010). His philosophical interests revolve around naturalism.