formalism

philosophy of mathematics

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Related Topics:: mathematics; proof theory

formalism, in mathematics, school of thought introduced by the 20th-century German mathematician David Hilbert, which holds that all mathematics can be reduced to rules for manipulating formulas without any reference to the meanings of the formulas. Formalists contend that it is the mathematical symbols themselves, and not any meaning that might be ascribed to them, that are the basic objects of mathematical thought. Compare intuitionism; logicism.

logicism

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logicism

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Related Topics:: mathematics; theory of types; axiom of reducibility; ramified theory of types

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logicism, school of mathematical thought introduced by the 19th–20th-century German mathematician Gottlob Frege and the British mathematician Bertrand Russell, which holds that mathematics is actually logic. Logicists contend that all of mathematics can be deduced from pure logic, without the use of any specifically mathematical concepts, such as number or set. Compare formalism; intuitionism.