From Frege to Gödel

It is difficult to describe this book without praising it… [From Frege to Gödel] is, in effect, the record of an important chapter in the history of thought. No serious student of logic or foundations of mathematics will want to be without it. * Review of Metaphysics *There can be no doubt that the book is a valuable contribution to the logical literature and that it will certainly spread the knowledge of mathematical logic and its history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. – Andrzej Mostowski * Synthese *Jean van Heijenoort’s Source Book in Mathematical Logic offers a judicious selection of articles, lectures and correspondence on mathematical logic and the foundations of mathematics, covering the whole of the single most fertile period in the history of logic, namely from 1879 (the year of Frege’s epochmaking discovery/invention of modern mathematical logic) to 1931 (the year of Gödel’s epoch-ending incompleteness theorem). All the translations are impeccable. Each piece is introduced by an expository article and additionally furnished with a battery of supplementary technical, historical, and philosophical comments in the form of additional footnotes. The collection as a whole allows one to relive each of the crucial steps in this formative period in the history of logic, from Frege’s introduction of the Begriffsschrift, to the discovery of Russell’s paradox (including Frege’s heroic and heartbreaking letter of congratulation to Russell), the development of axiomatic set theory, the program of Russell and Whitehead’s Principia Mathematica, Brouwer’s intuitionism, Hilbert’s proof theory, to the limitative theorems of Skolem and Gödel, to mention only a few of the highlights. Anyone with a serious interest in the history or philosophy of logic will want to own this volume. – James Conant, University of ChicagoFor more than three decades this outstanding collection has been the authoritative source of basic texts in mathematical logic in the English language; it remains without peer to this day. – Michael Detlefson, University of Notre DameYear in, year out, I recommend this book enthusiastically to students and colleagues for sources in the history and philosophy of modern logic and the foundations of mathematics; I use my own copy so much, it is falling apart. – Solomon Feferman, Stanford UniversityA Bible for historians of logic and computer science, this invaluable collection will profit anyone interested in the interplay between mathematics and philosophy in the early decades of the twentieth century. It provides a unique and comprehensive way to appreciate how modern mathematical logic unfolded in the hands of its greatest founding practitioners. – Juliet Floyd, Boston UniversityFrom Frege to Gödel is the single most important collection of original papers from the development of mathematical logic—an invaluable source for all students of the subject. – Michael Friedman, University of IndianaMeticulously edited, with excellent translations and helpful introductory notes, From Frege to Gödel is an indispensable volume for anyone interested in the development of modern logic and its philosophical impact. – Warren Goldfarb, Harvard UniversityFrom Frege to Gödel lays out before our eyes the turbulent panorama in which modern logic came to be. – W. D. Hart, University of Illinois at ChicagoThe outstanding quality of the translations and introductions still make this source book the most important reference for the history of mathematical logic. – Paolo Mancosu, University of California, BerkeleyIf there is one book that every philosopher interested in the history of logic should own, not to mention all the philosophers who pretend they know something about the history of logic, From Frege to Gödel is that book. – Hilary Putnam, Harvard University

Jean van Heijenoort, well known in the fields of mathematical logic and foundations of mathematics, is Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University and has taught at New York and Columbia Universities.