On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems. Translated by B. Meltzer with Introduction by R. B. Braithwaite.

GÖDEL, Kurt.

Published by Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962

About this Item

First edition in English of the famed incompleteness theorems, overturning a century of efforts to place the whole of mathematics on an axiomatic basis and proving that the bounds cannot be those of one formal system. It includes a preface by R. B. Braithwaite (1900-1990), Knightbridge Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge. For Gödel, even in elementary arithmetic there exist propositions that cannot be proven or disproven within the system. Mathematics is not finished, as had been believed, and computers can never be programmed to answer all mathematical questions. The theorems were originally published in Monatshefte für Mathematik in 1931. Newman, pp. 1668-95. Octavo. Original light green cloth, spine lettered in red. With dust jacket. With the ownership signatures on the front pastedown and free endpaper of Robert Mark Poole Quilliam (1944-2023), chemist and materials scientist, dated 1964 on the rear pastedown. Head of spine bumped, boards gently splayed; jacket unclipped, spine a little faded, extremities lightly rubbed: a near-fine copy in like jacket.

Seller Inventory # 182225

Bibliographic Details

• Title: On Formally Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica and Related Systems. Translated by B. Meltzer with Introduction by R. B. Braithwaite.
• Publisher: Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1962
• Edition: 1st Edition