Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

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More on "the philosophical significance of Gödel's theorem"

A. W. Moore

pp. 103-126

Abstract

In Michael Dummett's celebrated essay on Gödel's theorem he considers the threat posed by the theorem to the idea that meaning is use and argues that this threat can be annulled. In my essay I try to show that the threat is even less serious than Dummett makes it out to be. Dummett argues, in effect, that Gödel's theorem does not prevent us from "capturing" the truths of arithmetic; I argue that the idea that meaning is use does not require that we be able to "capture" these truths anyway. Towards the end of my essay I relate what I have been arguing first to Dummett's concept of indefinite extensibility and then to some of Wittgenstein's remarks on Gödel's theorem.

Publication details

Published in:

(1998) New essays on the philosophy of Michael Dummett. Grazer Philosophische Studien 55.

Pages: 103-126

DOI: 10.5840/gps19985516

Full citation:

Moore A. W. (1998) „More on "the philosophical significance of Gödel's theorem"“. Grazer Philosophische Studien 55, 103–126.