[FOM] inconsistency of P

Edward Nelson nelson at math.Princeton.EDU
Mon Sep 26 09:33:24 EDT 2011


I am writing up a proof that Peano arithmetic (P),
and even a small fragment of primitive-recursive
arithmetic (PRA), are inconsistent. This is posted
as a Work in Progress at
http://www.math.princeton.edu/~nelson/books.html

A short outline of the book is at
http://www.math.princeton.edu/~nelson/papers/outline.pdf
The outline begins with a formalist critique of finitism,
making the case that there are tacit infinitary assumptions
underlying finitism. Then the outline describes how
inconsistency will be proved. It concludes with remarks on
how to do modern mathematics within a consistent theory.

Ed Nelson


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