My first exposure was his mathematical logic book. At the time, I didn’t even realize he had a reputation as a philosopher per se. (I knew from the back cover of the book that he was in the philosophy department at Harvard, but I just assumed that that was where anyone who got sufficiently “foundational” about their mathematics got put.)
Ah, see, when I learned a little logic, I shuddered, muttered “That is not dead which can unsleeping lie,” and moved on. I’ll come back to it if it ever seems useful though.
Yah, I sometimes joke that logicians are viewed by mathematicians in the same way that mathematicians are viewed by normal people. Logic makes complete sense to me, but some of my professional mathematician friends cannot understand my tastes at all. I, on the other hand, cannot understand how one can get interested in homological algebra or other such things, when there are all these really pressing logical issues to solve :-)
My first exposure was his mathematical logic book. At the time, I didn’t even realize he had a reputation as a philosopher per se. (I knew from the back cover of the book that he was in the philosophy department at Harvard, but I just assumed that that was where anyone who got sufficiently “foundational” about their mathematics got put.)
Ah, see, when I learned a little logic, I shuddered, muttered “That is not dead which can unsleeping lie,” and moved on. I’ll come back to it if it ever seems useful though.
Yah, I sometimes joke that logicians are viewed by mathematicians in the same way that mathematicians are viewed by normal people. Logic makes complete sense to me, but some of my professional mathematician friends cannot understand my tastes at all. I, on the other hand, cannot understand how one can get interested in homological algebra or other such things, when there are all these really pressing logical issues to solve :-)
That is exactly why I enjoy learning about logic.
Will Sawin, aspiring necromancer… That should be on your business card.
I should have a business card.