Background
Parsons, Charles Dacre was born on April 13, 1933 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Talcott and Helen B. (Walker) Parsons.
(This important book by a major American philosopher bring...)
This important book by a major American philosopher brings together eleven essays treating problems in logic and the philosophy of mathematics. A common point of view, that mathematical thought is central to our thought in general, underlies the essays. In his introduction, Parsons articulates that point of view and relates it to past and recent discussions of the foundations of mathematics.Mathematics in Philosophy is divided into three parts. Ontology―the question of the nature and extent of existence assumptions in mathematics―is the subject of Part One and recurs elsewhere. Part Two consists of essays on two important historical figures, Kant and Frege, and one contemporary, W. V. Quine. Part Three contains essays on the three interrelated notions of set, class, and truth.
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( In this illuminating collection, Charles Parsons survey...)
In this illuminating collection, Charles Parsons surveys the contributions of philosophers and mathematicians who shaped the philosophy of mathematics over the course of the past century. Parsons begins with a discussion of the Kantian legacy in the work of L. E. J. Brouwer, David Hilbert, and Paul Bernays, shedding light on how Bernays revised his philosophy after his collaboration with Hilbert. He considers Hermann Weyl's idea of a "vicious circle" in the foundations of mathematics, a radical claim that elicited many challenges. Turning to Kurt Gödel, whose incompleteness theorem transformed debate on the foundations of mathematics and brought mathematical logic to maturity, Parsons discusses his essay on Bertrand Russell's mathematical logic--Gödel's first mature philosophical statement and an avowal of his Platonistic view. Philosophy of Mathematics in the Twentieth Century insightfully treats the contributions of figures the author knew personally: W. V. Quine, Hilary Putnam, Hao Wang, and William Tait. Quine's early work on ontology is explored, as is his nominalistic view of predication and his use of the genetic method of explanation in the late work The Roots of Reference. Parsons attempts to tease out Putnam's views on existence and ontology, especially in relation to logic and mathematics. Wang's contributions to subjects ranging from the concept of set, minds, and machines to the interpretation of Gödel are examined, as are Tait's axiomatic conception of mathematics, his minimalist realism, and his thoughts on historical figures.
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Parsons, Charles Dacre was born on April 13, 1933 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Talcott and Helen B. (Walker) Parsons.
Bachelor of Arts, Harvard University, 1954; A.M., Harvard University, 1956; Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University, 1961; postgraduate, U. Cambridge, England, 1954-1955.
He is professor emeritus at Harvard University. He taught for many years at Columbia University before moving to Harvard University in 1989. He retired in 2005 as the Edgar Pierce professor of philosophy, a position formerly held by Quine.
Among his former doctoral students are James Higginbotham, R. Gregory Taylor, Peter Ludlow, Richard Tieszen, Gila Sher, Charles H. Manekin, Emily Carson, Michael Glanzberg, and Øystein Linnebo.
In addition to his work in logic and the philosophy of mathematics, Parsons was an editor, with Solomon Feferman and others, of the posthumous works of Kurt Gödelegate He has also written on historical figures, especially Immanuel Kant, Gottlob Frege, Kurt Gödel, and Willard van Orman Quine.
1987. "Developing arithmetic in set theory without infinity: Some historical remarks".
History and Philosophy of Logic, volunteer 8, pp. 201–213.
1990a.
"The uniqueness of the natural numbers". Iyyun, volunteer 39, pp. 13–44.
ISSN 0021-3306 (2 p).
1990b. "The structuralist view of mathematical objects. Synthese, volunteer 84 (3), pp.
303–346.
2014b. "Analyticity for realists".
In Interpreting Gödel: Critical Essays, educated J. Kennedy. Cambridge University Press, pp.
( In this illuminating collection, Charles Parsons survey...)
(This important book by a major American philosopher bring...)
Fellow American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters (foreign), Association for Symbolic Logic (secretary 1971-1976, vice president 1986-1989, president 1989-1992), American Philosophical Association.
Married Marjorie Louise Wood, September 6, 1968. Children: Jotham Wood, Sylvia Anne.