Labyrinth of Thought: A History of Set Theory and Its Role in Modern Mathematics

by José Ferreirós

Overview

"José Ferreirós has written a magisterial account of the history of set theory which is panoramic, balanced, and engaging. Not only does this book synthesize much previous work and provide fresh insights and points of view, but it also features a major innovation, a full-fledged treatment of the emergence of the set-theoretic approach in mathematics from the early nineteenth century." —Bulletin of Symbolic Logic (Review of first edition)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783764383497
Publisher:	Birkhäuser Basel
Publication date:	10/04/2007
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2007
Pages:	466
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.53(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

The Emergence of Sets within Mathematics.- Institutional and Intellectual Contexts in German Mathematics, 1800–1870.- A New Fundamental Notion: Riemann’s Manifolds.- Dedekind and the Set-theoretical Approach to Algebra.- The Real Number System.- Origins of the Theory of Point-Sets.- Entering the Labyrinth-Toward Abstract Set Theory.- The Notion of Cardinality and the Continuum Hypothesis.- Sets and Maps as a Foundation for Mathematics.- The Transfinite Ordinals and Cantor’s Mature Theory.- In Search of an Axiom System.- Diffusion, Crisis, and Bifurcation: 1890 to 1914.- Logic and Type Theory in the Interwar Period.- Consolidation of Axiomatic Set Theory.

Editorial Reviews

From the book reviews:

“The book is a thorough, deep, fascinating work. It is not only recommended, it is compulsory for anyone interested in the history of mathematical ideas.” (László I. Szabó, Acta Scientiarum Mathematicarum (Szeged), Vol. 75 (1-2), 2009)

From the Publisher