This is an extensively revised edition of Mr. Quine's introduction to abstract set theory and to various axiomatic systematizations of the subject. The treatment of ordinal numbers has been strengthened and much simplified, especially in the theory of transfinite recursions, by adding an axiom and reworking the proofs. Infinite cardinals are treated anew in clearer and fuller terms than before. Improvements have been made all through the book; in various instances a proof has been shortened, a theorem strengthened, a space-saving lemma inserted, an obscurity clarified, an error corrected, a historical omission supplied, or a new event noted.

Explores sets and relations, the natural number sequence and its generalization, extension of natural numbers to real numbers, logic, informal axiomatic mathematics, Boolean algebras, informal axiomatic set theory, several algebraic theories, and 1st-order theories.

Michael Potter presents a comprehensive new philosophical introduction to set theory. Anyone wishing to work on the logical foundations of mathematics must understand set theory, which lies at its heart. Potter offers a thorough account of cardinal and ordinal arithmetic, and the various axiom candidates. He discusses in detail the project of set-theoretic reduction, which aims to interpret the rest of mathematics in terms of set theory. The key question here is how to deal with the paradoxes that bedevil set theory. Potter offers a strikingly simple version of the most widely accepted response to the paradoxes, which classifies sets by means of a hierarchy of levels. What makes the book unique is that it interweaves a careful presentation of the technical material with a penetrating philosophical critique. Potter does not merely expound the theory dogmatically but at every stage discusses in detail the reasons that can be offered for believing it to be true. Set Theory and its Philosophy is a key text for philosophy, mathematical logic, and computer science.

This is an introduction to set theory and logic that starts completely from scratch. The text is accompanied by many methodological remarks and explanations. A rigorous axiomatic presentation of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory is given, demonstrating how the basic concepts of mathematics have apparently been reduced to set theory. This is followed by a presentation of propositional and first-order logic. Concepts and results of recursion theory are explained in intuitive terms, and the author proves and explains the limitative results of Skolem, Tarski, Church and Gödel (the celebrated incompleteness theorems). For students of mathematics or philosophy this book provides an excellent introduction to logic and set theory.

This book provides an introduction to axiomatic set theory and descriptive set theory. It is written for the upper level undergraduate or beginning graduate students to help them prepare for advanced study in set theory and mathematical logic as well as other areas of mathematics, such as analysis, topology, and algebra.The book is designed as a flexible and accessible text for a one-semester introductory course in set theory, where the existing alternatives may be more demanding or specialized. Readers will learn the universally accepted basis of the field, with several popular topics added as an option. Pointers to more advanced study are scattered throughout the text.

Examination of essential topics and theorems assumes no background in logic. "Undoubtedly a major addition to the literature of mathematical logic." — Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society. 1978 edition.

"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. This takes up Part One of the book. Part Two analyzes the crucial developments in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, above all the work of Cantor, but also Dedekind and the interaction between the two. Lastly, Part Three details the development of set theory up to 1950, taking account of foundational questions and the emergence of the modern axiomatization." (Bulletin of Symbolic Logic)