RE: Mathematicians who are finitists.
July 5, 2019 at 9:09 am
(This post was last modified: July 5, 2019 at 9:11 am by Jehanne.
Edit Reason: Ooops
)
(July 5, 2019 at 8:20 am)A Toy Windmill Wrote: I'm familiar with the proof. It looks easy enough to formalize in PRA.
Where do you think it requires unbounded quantification over the naturals?
What's the alternative? I suppose that you, as the DA, are trying to make a distinction between a potential infinite versus an actual one. But, here's the Axiom of Infinity:
Wikipedia -- Axiom of Infinity
Now, if one rejects the above axiom, then, one, I suppose is a finitist. But, consider the harmonic series:
It goes on forever, but, as can be proved, it is unbounded (goes to infinity), even though though the terms of the series (its limit) goes to zero. The sum of a p-series, where p > 1
is bounded, even though it, like the harmonic series, goes on forever.
I am not sure how finitists deal with the above conundrums, but, of course, if you tire in your role as the DA here, I understand completely!