Re: Rusty Lusks question

Victor Yodaiken (yodaiken@sphinx.nmt.edu)
Thu, 12 May 1994 10:40:49 -0600

On May 12, 11:36am, Andrzej Trybulec wrote:
Subject: Rusty Lusks question
>For instance Objection No 1, Controversies in mathematics. It seems
>that the common answer is: "these are controversies in the Philosophy of
>Mathematics, who cares ?".
>I do not claim that I share this opinion. The problem is that
mathematicians
>believe that there are no doubts what it means that a proof is correct
and
>that there is a huge koine that they use (much more than ZFC). And I
believe

Part of the problem here is the widespread acceptance of the notion that
one should start from a small set of axioms and deduction
rules and derive everything else from these elementary foundations.
In applied math, we often introduce notions and methods from the physical
world or mix and match from what logicians would regard as incommensurate
theories. The QED project should not require that working mathematicians
accept the strictures common in metamathematics.
Has anyone here read
Boute's essay: "A critique of the axiomatic method in computer science" ?