Abstract

Here is a deft and new introduction to Gentzen proof techniques in axiom systems and to the analysis of formal axiom systems; in short, axiomatics inside and out. Treating of deduction in propositional and predicate logic, metatheoretical problems about both set theory and its paradoxes, the book is flexibly structured for selective use as a text. Yet the discussion is unified and motivated by the concept of the axiomatic system--the history of its use and analysis, and its present practical and theoretical status. Well-chosen illustrations convey an historical overview of Euclid, non-Euclidean geometers, Peano, Boole, Hilbert and Gödel.--P. D. J.