[FOM] Foreman's preface to HST  Marc Alcobé malcobe at gmail.com
Sat Apr 24 12:36:17 EDT 2010  Dear FOMers,  In the spirit of the
beginnings of this mailing list, please let me ask you what are
your opinions about Matthew Foreman's preface to the (at least
for me) long awaited Handbook of Set Theory (Foreman & Kanamori
eds.). There, Matt explains what he thinks is "a well-accepted
conventional view of foundations of mathematics".  I personally
think that his view is a bit biased in favour of the kind of
research developed within standard set theory, as one would
expect in such a publication. But since I am no expert in the
broad field of the foundations of mathematics I feel compelled
to learn about better informed points of view.  I apologise for
quoting the relevant statements in order to allow as many people
as possible to take part in the discussion.  [...] With roots in
the Elements, the distinctive methodology of mathematics has
become proof. Inevitably two questions arise: What are proofs?
and What ass