§1. The origins of recursion theory. In dedicating a book to Steve Kleene, I referred to him as the person who made recursion theory into a theory. Recursion theory was begun by Kleene's teacher at Princeton, Alonzo Church, who first defined the class of recursive functions; first maintained that this class was the class of computable functions ; and first used this fact to solve negatively some classical problems on the existence of algorithms. However, it was Kleene who, in his (...) thesis and in his subsequent attempts to convince himself of Church's Thesis, developed a general theory of the behavior of the recursive functions. He continued to develop this theory and extend it to new situations throughout his mathematical career. Indeed, all of the research which he did had a close relationship to recursive functions.Church's Thesis arose in an accidental way. In his investigations of a system of logic which he had invented, Church became interested in a class of functions which he called the λ-definable functions. Initially, Church knew that the successor function and the addition function were λ-definable, but not much else. During 1932, Kleene gradually showed1 that this class of functions was quite extensive; and these results became an important part of his thesis 1935a. (shrink)

Ranging from Alan Turing’s seminal 1936 paper to the latest work on Kolmogorov complexity and linear logic, this comprehensive new work clarifies the relationship between computability on the one hand and constructivity on the other. The authors argue that even though constructivists have largely shed Brouwer’s solipsistic attitude to logic, there remain points of disagreement to this day. Focusing on the growing pains computability experienced as it was forced to address the demands of rapidly expanding applications, the content maps the (...) developments following Turing’s ground-breaking linkage of computation and the machine, the resulting birth of complexity theory, the innovations of Kolmogorov complexity and resolving the dissonances between proof theoretical semantics and canonical proof feasibility. Finally, it explores one of the most fundamental questions concerning the interface between constructivity and computability: whether the theory of recursive functions is needed for a rigorous development of constructive mathematics. This volume contributes to the unity of science by overcoming disunities rather than offering an overarching framework. It posits that computability’s adoption of a classical, ontological point of view kept these imperatives separated. In studying the relationship between the two, it is a vital step forward in overcoming the disagreements and misunderstandings which stand in the way of a unifying view of logic. (shrink)

Realizabilities are powerful tools for establishing consistency and independence results for theories based on intuitionistic logic. Troelstra discovered principles ECT 0 and GC 1 which precisely characterize formal number and function realizability for intuitionistic arithmetic and analysis, respectively. Building on Troelstra's results and using his methods, we introduce the notions of Church domain and domain of continuity in order to demonstrate the optimality of “almost negativity” in ECT 0 and GC 1 ; strengthen “double negation shift” DNS 0 to DNS (...) 1 and use it with GC 1 and Markov's Principle MP to characterize the classically provably realizable formulas of analysis; and show that intuitionistic analysis with GC 1 , MP and DNS 1 is consistent and satisfies Troelstra's and Church's Rules. We end with a discussion of semi-intuitionistic theories and a conjecture. (shrink)

MICHAEL DUMMETT, Elements of intuitionism. With the assistance of Robert Minio. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. xii + 466 pp. No price stated.