[FOM] Who was Luc Jardie?

[Verelst Karin]

I do not know that movie, but the philosopher you are looking for is without a trace of doubt Jean Cavaillès. He was an important philsopher of mathematics, linked to the Bourbaki-group, editor (together with Emmy Noether) of the Cantor/Dedekind Briefwechsel, and author of (amongst others):

* Méthode axiomatique et formalisme, Paris, Hermann, 1938.
* Sur la Logique et la théorie de la science, Paris, PUF, 1947.
 
He was murdered ("executed") as a member of the résistance in Arras, in 1944. After the war, his body was buried in the chapelle de la Sorbonne.


Karin Verelst



>Who was Luc Jardie?
>
>Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 film about members of the French Resistance
>called "Army of Shadows" (L'armee des ombres) features a reclusive,
>aristocratic philosopher named Luc Jardie. The character has written 5 books:
>
>"Methode Axiomatique et Formalisme," "Transfini et Continu," "Essai sur
>le Probleme du Fondement de Mathematiques," "Sur le Logique et la Theorie
>de la Science" and finally "Remarques sur la Formation de la Theorie
>Abstraite des Ensembles." (Sorry I cannot supply proper accents on this
>keyboard.)
>
>The film is based on the novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel, but
>draws heavily on Melville's own experience as a Resistance member.
>
>Question: did any logician-set theorist play a role in
>the French Resistance? The titles of the books point to their
>being written by a Bourbaki member - didn't
>the Bourbaki book on set theory come out in the 60's?
>
>(Another suggestion
>which was made is that during the 1960s Melville crossed paths with some
>logician of the formalist stripe at, say, La Coupole.)
>
>The film came out in the U.S. just now; it was hardly seen in France when
>it first came out, but it is now considered one of Melville's greatest
>films.
>
>Greetings,
>
>Juliette Kennedy
>------
>Department of Mathematics and Statistics
>P.O. Box 68 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2b)
>FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
>tel. (+358-9)-191-51446, fax (+358-9)-191-51400
>http://www.helsinki.fi/science/logic
>e-mail: juliette.kennedy at helsinki.fi
>mobile: +358-50-371-4576
>
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