[Revised entry by Patricia Blanchette on March 7, 2024.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
In the early years of the twentieth century, Gottlob Frege and David Hilbert, two titans of mathematical logic, engaged in a controversy regarding the correct understanding of the role of axioms in mathematical theories, and the correct way to demonstrate consistency and independence results for such axioms. The controversy touches on a number of difficult questions in logic and the philosophy of logic, and marks an important turning-point in the development of modern logic. This entry gives an overview of that controversy and of its…

Originally appeared on Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Read More