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Brouwerian infinity

Carl J Posy

pp. 21-36

Brouwer believed that we humans build the objects of mathematics, and thus he held that those objects are things that we finite beings can intuitively grasp. This was a problem, for mathematics is inherently infinitary (by his time infinite processes, Cantorian higher infinities and a thoroughly infinitary conception of the continuum were already at center stage), but infinite entities and infinite processes exceed our finite grasp. This dilemma — to balance infinity and human intuition — defined Brouwer's intuitionistic career.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-7643-8653-5_2

Full citation:

Posy, C.J. (2008)., Brouwerian infinity, in P. Boldini, M. Bourdeau & G. Heinzmann (eds.), One hundred years of intuitionism (1907–2007), Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 21-36.

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