Church's Thesis After 70 Years

by Adam Olszewski (Editor), Robert Janusz (Editor), David Charles McCarty (Contributor)

Church's Thesis (CT) was first published by Alonzo Church in 1935. CT is a proposition that identifies two notions: an intuitive notion of an effectively computable function defined in natural numbers with the notion of a recursive function. Despite the many efforts of prominent scientists, Church's Thesis has never been disproven. There exists a vast literature concerning the thesis. The aim of this book is to provide a one volume summary of the state of research on Church's Thesis. These include the following: different formulations of CT, CT and intuitionism, CT and intensional mathematics, CT and physics, the epistemic status of CT, CT and philosophy of mind, provability of CT and CT and functional programming.

"Adam Olszewski," is assistant professor of the philosophy of mathematics and mathematical logic at the Department of Philosophy of Pontifical Academy of Theology, Cracow (Poland). "Jan Wolenski" is professor of philosophy, Institute of Philosphy, Jagiellonian University, Cracow (Poland). He is one of the most distinguished logicians in Poland. "Robert Janusz" is assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy of Ignatius College, Cracow (Poland).

551 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006