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Ideas for 'works', 'Introduction to 'Properties'' and 'works'

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3 ideas

5. Theory of Logic / K. Features of Logics / 8. Enumerability
There are infinite sets that are not enumerable [Cantor, by Smith,P]
     Full Idea: Cantor's Theorem (1874) says there are infinite sets that are not enumerable. This is proved by his 1891 'diagonal argument'.
     From: report of George Cantor (works [1880]) by Peter Smith - Intro to Gödel's Theorems 2.3
     A reaction: [Smith summarises the diagonal argument]
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 5. Paradoxes in Set Theory / b. Cantor's paradox
Cantor's Paradox: the power set of the universe must be bigger than the universe, yet a subset of it [Cantor, by Hart,WD]
     Full Idea: The problem of Cantor's Paradox is that the power set of the universe has to be both bigger than the universe (by Cantor's theorem) and not bigger (since it is a subset of the universe).
     From: report of George Cantor (works [1880]) by William D. Hart - The Evolution of Logic 3
     A reaction: Russell eliminates the 'universe' in his theory of types. I don't see why you can't just say that the members of the set are hypothetical rather than real, and that hypothetically the universe might contain more things than it does.
5. Theory of Logic / L. Paradox / 5. Paradoxes in Set Theory / e. Mirimanoff's paradox
The powerset of all the cardinal numbers is required to be greater than itself [Cantor, by Friend]
     Full Idea: Cantor's Paradox says that the powerset of a set has a cardinal number strictly greater than the original set, but that means that the powerset of the set of all the cardinal numbers is greater than itself.
     From: report of George Cantor (works [1880]) by Michčle Friend - Introducing the Philosophy of Mathematics
     A reaction: Friend cites this with the Burali-Forti paradox and the Russell paradox as the best examples of the problems of set theory in the early twentieth century. Did this mean that sets misdescribe reality, or that we had constructed them wrongly?