Ontos Mathematical Logic – serie

A proof is a successful demonstration that a conclusion necessarily follows by logical reasoning from axioms which are considered evident for the given context and agreed upon by the community. It is this concept that sets mathematics apart from other disciplines and distinguishes it as the prototype of a deductive science. Proofs thus are utterly relevant for research, teaching and communication in mathematics and of particular interest for the philosophy of mathematics. In computer science, moreover, proofs have proved to be a rich source for already certified algorithms.This book provides the reader with a collection of articles covering relevant current research topics circled around the concept 'proof'. It tries to give due consideration to the depth and breadth of the subject by discussing its philosophical and methodological aspects, addressing foundational issues induced by Hilbert's Programme and the benefits of the arising formal notions of proof, without neglecting reasoning in natural language proofs and applications in computer science such as program extraction.

In recent years, mathematical logic has developed in many directions, the initial unity of its subject matter giving way to a myriad of seemingly unrelated areas. The articles collected here, which range from historical scholarship to recent research in geometric model theory, squarely address this development. These articles also connect to the diverse work of Väänänen, whose ecumenical approach to logic reflects the unity of the discipline.

Published in honor of Victor L. Selivanov, the 17 articles collected in this volume inform on the latest developments in computability theory and its applications in computable analysis; descriptive set theory and topology; and the theory of omega-languages; as well as non-classical logics, such as temporal logic and paraconsistent logic. This volume will be of interest to mathematicians and logicians, as well as theoretical computer scientists.

On the occasion of the retirement of Wolfram Pohlers the Institut für Mathematische Logik und Grundlagenforschung of the University of Münster organized a colloquium and a workshop which took place July 17 – 19, 2008. This event brought together proof theorists from many parts of the world who have been acting as teachers, students and collaborators of Wolfram Pohlers and who have been shaping the field of proof theory over the years. The present volume collects papers by the speakers of the colloquium and workshop; and they produce a documentation of the state of the art of contemporary proof theory.

Over the last few decades the interest of logicians and mathematicians in constructive and computational aspects of their subjects has been steadily growing, and researchers from disparate areas realized that they can benefit enormously from the mutual exchange of techniques concerned with those aspects. A key figure in this exciting development is the logician and mathematician Helmut Schwichtenberg to whom this volume is dedicated on the occasion of his 70th birthday and his turning emeritus. The volume contains 20 articles from leading experts about recent developments in Constructive set theory, Provably recursive functions, Program extraction, Theories of truth, Constructive mathematics, Classical vs. intuitionistic logic, Inductive definitions, and Continuous functionals and domains.