CRITICAL PERIOD

● In the 19th period, pure mathematics was known as nothing but just an elaborate form of
arithmetic.
● Arithmetization - this term is used in the literature on the foundations of mathematics to
denote the creation of the theory of real numbers using set-theoretic constructions,
starting from the natural number. (Arithmetization - Encyclopedia of Mathematics, n.d.)
● Richard Dedekind and David Hilbert - One of the greatest minds in the 19th century;with
the highest standard of rigor, they led to the idea of grounding all pure mathematics in
set theory.
● Dedekind and Hilbert had a hard time bringing this viewpoint by establishing theory of
real numbers and set-theoretic reduction of the natural numbers.
● These problems had been solved by Georg Cantor and Richard Dedekind.
● In the middle of celebrating full rigor, serious problems emerged for the foundations of
set theory. They discovered paradoxes in Set Theory.

SET THEORY AND ITS PARADOXES

Georg Cantor
● He is a German mathematician who founded set theory and introduced the concept of
transfinite numbers. (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2023)
● He was led to discovering the paradoxes of set theory by introducing the “Conceptual
Sphere” of the transfinite number.
● The term “transfinite” was coined by Cantor to define that “transfinite or infinite” is larger
than all finite numbers. Transfinite numbers can be identified as “Transfinite cardinals”
that are used to quantify infinite sets and also as “Transfinite ordinals” that are used to
provide ordering of infinite sets.
● After introducing the idea of transfinite numbers, he found the paradox “Burali-Forti” or
the paradox of ordinal numbers which states that every well-ordered set has a unique
ordinal number.(Wolfram Research, Inc., n.d.)
● Burali-Forti paradox or the paradox of ordinal numbers also states that “in any segment
of ordinals, it has an ordinal number which is greater than any ordinal in the
segment.(Wolfram Research, Inc., n.d.)
● He found that paradox as early as 1883 but after introducing the transfinite ordinals, it
was clear that it was not until 1896 to 1897 he found the paradoxical argument and its
implication.
● Cantor’s Theorem - The 1891 proof of Cantor’s theorem for infinite sets rested on a
version of his so-called diagonalization argument, which he had earlier used to prove
that the cardinality of the rational numbers is the same as the cardinality of the integers
by putting them into a one-to-one correspondence.
● He was able to employ his theorem to yield his paradox or the paradox of alephs.
- Set theorists realized perfectly well that these paradoxes were a fatal blow to the
“logical” approaches to sets favored by Frege and Dedekind.
● He emphasized his diametrical opposition in particular with dedekind’s naive assumption
that all well defined collections are also consistent systems.
- Cantor’s ambiguous definition of set in his paper of 1895 was intended to be
“diametrically opposite” to the logicists’ understanding of sets—often called
“naïve” set theory, which could more properly be called the dichotomy conception
of sets, following a suggestion of Gödel.
 ● Being aware of deficiencies is his new idea as he thought that he could solve the
paradoxes by distinguishing between sets and inconsistent multiplicity but the absence
of explicit criteria is the verbal answer for those distinctions.
● He also presented an argument against Burali-forti which states that sets can be well
ordered. Which was discovered by the British mathematician, Philip Jourdain.
● Cantor’s paradoxes convinced Hilbert and Dedekind that there were important doubts
concerning the foundations of set theory.

David Hilbert
● He was a German mathematician and also one of the most influential mathematicians of
the 19th and early 20th centuries. He adopted and defended Cantor’s set theory and
transfinite numbers.
● He formulated a paradox which is the “Infinite Hotel Paradox” that explores the infinite
nature of numbers and the properties of an infinite set. It is also a veridical paradox that
leads to a counter-intuitive result that is probably true.

Ernst Zermelo
● He is a German logician and mathematician whose work has major implications for the
foundation of mathematics. He began to work on the problems of set theory under
Hilbert’s influence and published his work concerning addition of transfinite cardinals.
● He also discovered the so-called “Russell Paradox” which is the paradox of the sets of
all sets that are not members of themselves.

Bertrand Russell
 ● He is a British mathematician, philosopher, logician and public intellectual who had a
considerable influence on mathematics. He was one of the early 20th century’s most
prominent logicians.
● He carefully studies Cantor's theorem that led him to conflicted his belief in a universal
set.
● He presented a contradiction upon the logistic program of Gottlob Frege which made
Frege very profound in his reaction. (in June 1902)
● His work “The principle of mathematics (1903)” made the mathematical community
aware of the paradoxes in set theory;their impact and importance with the publication of
Frege’s Grundgesetze.
● Russell-Zermelo paradox arises within naive set theory by considering that sets of all
sets are not members of themselves. Such a set appears to be a member of itself if and
only if it is not a member of itself. (Russell’s Paradox (Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy), 2020)

Richard Dedekind
● He is a German mathematician who is one of the greatest mathematicians of the
nineteenth-century, as well as one of the most important contributors to algebra and
number theory of all time. (Dedekind’s Contributions to the Foundations of Mathematics
(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), 2020)
● He defined two sets to be similar when there exists a one to one correspondence.
● He avoided the principle of Frege and Russel that shows contradictory and postulated
that the absolute universe was a set.
● He coupled that assumption with full acceptance of arbitrary subsets.

Foundation of Set Theory

● The different competing viewpoints make it hard to clarify the foundation of set theory, it
was widely divergent.
● Considering that Cantor had a metaphysical understanding of set theory and also one of
the sharpest viewpoints, he could not still offer a precise foundation. Universal sets
should be rejected and this idea was also favored by Frege and Russell.
● When it comes to Frege and Russel, their approach shows contradictory by the principle
of comprehension.

References
● Arithmetization - Encyclopedia of Mathematics. (n.d.).
https://encyclopediaofmath.org/wiki/Arithmetization
● The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2023, September 26). Georg
Cantor | Biography, Contributions, Books, & Facts. Encyclopedia
Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georg-Ferdinand-Ludwig-Philipp-Ca
ntor
● Wolfram Research, Inc. (n.d.). Burali-Forti Paradox -- from Wolfram
MathWorld. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Burali-FortiParadox.html
● Russell’s Paradox (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2020, October
12). https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell-paradox/
● Dedekind’s contributions to the Foundations of Mathematics (Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2020, October 23).
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dedekind-foundations/