FOM: reality as g.c.d.?

[Peter Schuster]

Soren Moller Riis wrote to fom 
on Tue, 9 May 2000 17:08:51 +0200 (MET DST)

>--------------------------------------
>Godel remark on mathematical reality
>--------------------------------------
>In "Address at the Princeton University Bicentennial conference
>on problems of mathematics (Dec 17-19, 1946), by Tarsky
>printed in the Bulletin of Symbolic Logic Vol 6. Num 1 March 2000 
>pp 1-44 Godel is cited for having said that in his opinion classical
>mathematics has meaning (i.e. describes some reality) and that
>failure to assume this (at least as a working hypothesis) must
>psychologically work as a hindrance in research.





Thanks for this elucidating quote from which some questions have arosed. 

May I conclude that even for Goedel it sufficed to assume reality as a 
working hypothesis? Couldn't this be the greatest common denominator 
for all of us? 

Wasn't Goedel himself aware of the circumstance that purely classical 
reasoning might be a hindrance in finding proofs with computational 
content? Mightn't an estimation like this have been the reason for 
providing the Dialectica interpretation? 

I am no expert in that matter, so please correct me if necessary. 





Name: Peter M. Schuster
Position: Wissenschaftlicher Assistent
Instituition: University of Munich, Mathematics Department
Research interest: constructive mathematics
http://www.mathematik.uni-muenchen.de/~pschust