Gödel, Carnap and the Fregean heritage

Gabriella Crocco

pp. 21-41

in: Juliette Kennedy, Paul-Gabriel Sandu (eds), History of logic, Synthese 137, 2003.

Abstract

Thorough a detailed analysis of version III of Gödel's Is mathematics syntax of language?, we propose a new interpretation of Gödel's criticism against the conventionalist point of view in mathematics. When one reads carefully Gödel's text, it brings out that, contrary to the opinion of some commentators, Gödel did not overlook the novelty of Carnap's solution, and did not criticise him from an old-fashioned conception of science. The general aim of our analysis is to restate the Carnap/Gödel debate in the Fregean heritage. We stress the way both of them try to answer, from different Fregean perspectives, to the question of the nature of logic and mathematics in knowledge.

Cited authors

Frege Gottlob

Carnap Rudolf

Gödel Kurt