Single Idea 15941

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / D. Assumptions for Logic / 2. Excluded Middle]

Full Idea

From the intuitionist standpoint the dogma of the universal validity of the principle of excluded third in mathematics can only be considered as a phenomenon of history of civilization, like the rationality of pi or rotation of the sky about the earth.

Gist of Idea

For intuitionists excluded middle is an outdated historical convention

Source

Luitzen E.J. Brouwer (works [1930]), quoted by Shaughan Lavine - Understanding the Infinite VI.2

Book Reference

Lavine,Shaughan: 'Understanding the Infinite' [Harvard 1994], p.179


A Reaction

[Brouwer 1952:510-11]

Related Idea

Idea 9195 Intuitionists reject excluded middle, not for a third value, but for possibility of proof [Dummett]