Re: Name the thesis: "Formal sentences capture informal ones"

From: Torkel Franzen (torkel_at_sm.luth.se)
Date: 01/30/05


Date: 30 Jan 2005 16:15:49 +0100

Helene.Boucher@wanadoo.fr writes:

> So your elucidation why something raises basic
> questions (such as "Why is it trivially true that 2^n exists for every
> n?") is the statement that "Because it is trivially true that 2^n
> exists for every n."

  Right. Perhaps this will be clearer if I say "trivially true in
ordinary mathematics". Hence, when you question whether 2^n exists
for every n, you raise a basic question, and the question of the
faithfulness of the translation Con(PA) becomes a side issue.



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