The Ignorance of Bourbaki

(a commentary on the foundational stance of the Bourbaki group. In: Mathematical Intelligencer 14 (1992) 4--13 MR 94a:03004b, and also in Physis Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci (N.S.) 28 (1991) 887--904, MR 94a:03004a.) .ps.dvi

La Ignorancia de Bourbaki
(A translation by José Maria Almira Picazo into Spanish, published in La Gaceta de la Real Matemàtica Espanola, 7, (2004), no. 3.) .ps

Bourbaki tévútjai

(A translation by András Racz into Hungarian, published in A Természet Világa. 1998, III. kulonszama.)

(A reply to criticism by Professor Sanford L. Segal of the above essay.) .ps.dvi

Hilbert, Bourbaki and the scorning of logic Infinity and truth, including lectures from the workshop held at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, July 25-29, 2011. Edited by C.T.Chong, Q.Feng, T.A.Slaman and W.H.Woodin, Lecture Notes Series of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences of the National University of Singapore Vol.25 (World Scientific 2014), pp. 47-156.

(Since 1999, exposition of formal logic has been banned from the examination for the French Certificat d'Aptitude required for would-be school teachers of 12--15 year olds. This essay traces the grounds for the ban back to the difficulties encountered by the Bourbaki group in their chosen treatment of logic.)

What is Mac Lane missing ? Set Theory of the Continuum, ed. H. Judah, W.Just, H.Woodin; Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications Volume 26, Springer-Verlag, 1992, MR 94g:03010

(a commentary on the foundational position of Saunders Mac Lane; published together with a reply by Mac Lane, Is Mathias an ontologist ? MR 94g:03011. The .pdf file is a scan of both articles.)

Logic and Terror

(an account of the position of formal logic in Russia during the first forty years of the Soviet regime); in Jahrb. Kurt-Goedel-Ges. (1990) 117--130 MR 92m:01039, and also , in a longer version, in Physis Riv. Internaz. Storia Sci (N.S.) 28 (1991) 557--578 MR 93d:03014) .ps.dvi

CAMPAIGN ARTICLE:

[19] Mathematical Logic and the Alvey Programme

(article circulated in Whitehall in 1985 as one of the first steps towards the creation of the Logic for IT Initiative.)