Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics

A presentation of Wittgenstein's corpus of remarks on mathematics defending 'aspect realism' and making connections with Gödel and Turing.

For Wittgenstein mathematics is a human activity characterizing ways of seeing conceptual possibilities and empirical situations, proof and logical methods central to its progress. This Element is a presentation of Wittgenstein's entire corpus of remarks on mathematics defending 'aspect realism' and making connections with Gödel and Turing.For Wittgenstein mathematics is a human activity characterizing ways of seeing conceptual possibilities and empirical situations, proof and logical methods central to its progress. Sentences exhibit differing 'aspects', or dimensions of meaning, projecting mathematical 'realities'. Mathematics is an activity of constructing standpoints on equalities and differences of these. Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy of Mathematics (1934–1951) grew from his Early (1912–1921) and Middle (1929–33) philosophies, a dialectical path reconstructed here partly as a response to the limitative results of Gödel and Turing.