Abstract

David Hilbert sought to secure the epistemic foundations of mathematics by providing consistency proofs of axiomatized mathematical theories from within the finite standpoint. This standpoint requires concrete constructions without reference to completed infinities. In 1938, Gerhardt Gentzen proved the consistency of first-order Peano Arithmetic relying on the well-ordering of certain ordinal notations. This was thought by Gentzen and Paul Bernays to be finitistically acceptable. However, a finitistically acceptable proof of the relevant well-ordering was not available until Gaisi Takeuti’s proof in 1978. Beginning with the proposition that Takeuti’s proof conforms to the finite standpoint, this chapter explores the limits of a finitism based on the methods of Gentzen and Takeuti. It is argued that the upper limit is the Feferman-Schütte ordinal, and thus that finitism may be extended to strong subsystems of second-order arithmetic-systems strong enough to provide a theory of the ordinals for which Gentzen employed notations.