| Logic, Meaning and Computation: Essays in Memory of Alonzo Church 2001 Edition Contributor(s): Anderson, C. Anthony (Editor), Zelėny, Michael (Editor) |
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ISBN: 9401038910 ISBN-13: 9789401038911 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $161.49 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2012 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | Logic - Mathematics | Logic - Philosophy | Reference |
| Dewey: 511.3 |
| Series: Synthese Library |
| Physical Information: 1.33" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (2.01 lbs) 627 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Alonzo Church was undeniably one ofthe intellectual giants of theTwenti eth Century . These articles are dedicated to his memory and illustrate the tremendous importance his ideas have had in logic, mathematics, comput er science and philosophy . Discussions of some of thesevarious contributions have appeared in The Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, and th e interested reader is invited to seek details there . Here we justtry to give somegener al sense of the scope, depth, and value of his work. Church is perhaps best known for the theorem, appropriately called " C h u r c h ' s Theorem," that there is no decision procedure forthelogical valid ity of formulas first-order of logic . A d ecision proce dure forthat part of logic would have come near to fulfilling Leibniz's dream of a calculus that could be mechanically used tosettle logical disputes . It was not to . be It could not be . What Church proved precisely is that there is no lambda-definable function that can i n every case providethe right answer, ' y e s ' or ' n o', tothe question of whether or not any arbitrarily given formula is valid ." |
