Godel Editorial Project

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In 1931, Kurt Godel published an article which ended nearly a century of attempts to establish axioms which would provide a rigorous basis for all of mathematics. He proved that within any rigidly logical mathematical system, there are propositions that cannot be proved or disproved on the basis of the axioms of that system. Thus, the search for a demonstration of the self- consistency of mathematics was dealt a shattering blow. If mathematics is actually consistent, Godel showed that the fact of this consistency cannot be proved within the rules of mathematics itself. Mathematicians can never be certain that the basic axioms of arithmetic will not give rise to contradictions and the foundations of mathematics must ultimately always remain a mystery. Godel went on from this brilliant start to make contributions which would profoundly affect logic, physics, philosophy, the foundations of computer science, and other aspects of the foundations of mathematics. The purpose of this project is to publish the works of Kurt Godel and make them available to a wider audience of mathematicians, philosophers and historians. Under previous NSF grants, Professor Feferman and his editorial staff have published the first volume of what is now projected to be a four volume collection of the papers of the mathematician and logician, Kurt Godel. Volume one contains Godel's collected publications of 1929-1936. Volume two, which is currently being finished, contains his publications form 1936 to 1974. Under this new grant, Godel's notes from his courses, letters, lectures, scientific notebooks and drafts of unpublished manuscripts will be prepared for publication. These papers will be published in an additional two volumes. The editorial work includes translations of many documents from the German to English and the preparation of introductions and notes to the documents in order to make these materials of maximum scientific, historical and philosophical significance.