Description: Richard Tieszen analyzes, develops, and defends the writings of Kurt Godel (1906-1978) on the philosophy and foundations of mathematics and logic. Godel's relation to the work of Plato, Leibniz, Husserl, and Kant is examined, and a new type of platonic rationalism that requires rational intuition, called 'constituted platonism', is proposed.
Review Quotes: "Tieszen has long been one of the bridge builders in contemporary philosophy, who is engaged by the philosophical issues and studies them with a broad background and an open mind. There is much to be learned by this, and I am eagerly looking forward to Tieszen's continuation of this interesting and very valuable work." -- Philosophia Mathematica
"The book also presents in a very readable way the main sources of Gödel's speculations, in particular, Leibniz' rationalism and Husserl's phenomenology. It has been clear for some years that Gödel did not hold the caricatured platonism that has often been attributed to him. But Tieszen certainly gives the most extensive analysis of Gödel's texts on the question of platonism and, in my eyes, definitely establishes the depth and qualifications of Gödel's reflections upon the question of mathematical objectivity. The time is over when Gödel's name could be attached to the scarecrow of an unmitigated Platonism that one sets aside at the beginning of a paper." --Pierre Cassou-Noguès, History and Philosophy of Logic