Abstract

Although G¨odel proved the first incompleteness theorem by intuitionistically respectable means, G¨odel’s formula, true although undecidable,seems to offer a counter-example to the general constructivist or anti-realistclaim that truth may not transcend recognizability in principle. It is arguedhere that our understanding of the formula consists in a knowledge of itstruth-conditions, that it is true in a minimal sense and, finally, that it is recognized as such given the consistencyand ω-consistency of P. The philosophical lesson to be drawn from G¨odel’sproof is that our capacities for justification in favour of minimal truth exceedwhat is strictly speaking formally provable in P by means of an algorithm