[FOM] proving Q inconsistent

[Richard Heck]

I believe that George had Nelson in mind. Perhaps things had not been
clarified in the ways you mention when George made that remark, or
perhaps he was unaware. But maybe there was someone else.

Richard

Rupert McCallum wrote:

>On p. 313 of the anthology "Logic, Logic, and Logic", in the article
>"Is Hume's Principle Analytic?", Boolos writes
>
>"Saying exactly which theories are known to be consistent is a
>difficult problem made even more difficult when one hears of respected
>mathematicians telling of their failed attempts to prove Q
>inconsistent..."
>
>This intrigued me and I wondered who had actually tried to do such a
>thing. I found an article on the Internet saying Edward Nelson
>suspected that Q was inconsistent in his book "Predicative Arithmetic",
>but on examination of the book this seemed not to be the case (though
>he did tell of his attempts to prove PA inconsistent). Does anyone know
>who has tried to prove Q inconsistent?
>
>  
>