Axioms of symmetry: Throwing darts at the real number line

Journal of Symbolic Logic 51 (1):190-200 (1986)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

We will give a simple philosophical "proof" of the negation of Cantor's continuum hypothesis (CH). (A formal proof for or against CH from the axioms of ZFC is impossible; see Cohen [1].) We will assume the axioms of ZFC together with intuitively clear axioms which are based on some intuition of Stuart Davidson and an old theorem of Sierpinski and are justified by the symmetry in a thought experiment throwing darts at the real number line. We will in fact show why there must be an infinity of cardinalities between the integers and the reals. We will also show why Martin's Axiom must be false, and we will prove the extension of Fubini's Theorem for Lebesgue measure where joint measurability is not assumed. Following the philosophy--if you reject CH you are only two steps away from rejecting the axiom of choice (AC)--we will point out along the way some extensions of our intuition which contradict AC

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,386

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
143 (#127,120)

6 months
37 (#95,980)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

The set-theoretic multiverse.Joel David Hamkins - 2012 - Review of Symbolic Logic 5 (3):416-449.
Chance and the Continuum Hypothesis.Daniel Hoek - 2021 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 103 (3):639-60.
Is the Dream Solution of the Continuum Hypothesis Attainable?Joel David Hamkins - 2015 - Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 56 (1):135-145.

View all 27 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Internal cohen extensions.D. A. Martin & R. M. Solovay - 1970 - Annals of Mathematical Logic 2 (2):143-178.
Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis.Kenneth Kunen - 1966 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 35 (4):591-592.
Hypothèse du continu.[author unknown] - 1959 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 10 (39):249-250.

Add more references