[FOM] "Proof" of the consistency of PA published by Oxford UP

Timothy Y. Chow tchow at alum.mit.edu
Mon Mar 2 21:51:47 EST 2015


Gyorgy Sereny wrote:
> I would like to inform you about a strange publication.
> I have just come across a book newly published by
> Oxford University Press:
>
>    The Consistency of Arithmetic: And Other Essays Hardcover
>    24 Jul 2014 by Storrs McCall (Author)

I have to agree with Gyorgy Sereny that the first article in this book is 
strange.  Here I mainly want to point out that the full text of the 
article is linked from the author's website:

http://www.mcgill.ca/philosophy/people/faculty/mccall

Or you can go directly to the Word document:

http://www.mcgill.ca/philosophy/files/philosophy/the_consistency_of_arithmetic_feb_10_2011.doc

Skimming through the paper, I do not see any interesting mathematical 
insight.  I would characterize it as an argument for the consistency of PA 
based on physical intuition.  Perhaps there is an audience for this sort 
of thing, but I'm having trouble imagining one.

Tim


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