Re: [asa] Goedel's theorem and religion

Sorry, Iain, but the application is broader, not to a single form of
sentence. With Alonzo Church's extension, it is proved that there are
true sentences that can be formulated within the vocabulary of the system
but that cannot be proved within the system. In application, there are
theological truths that cannot be proved by theology.
Dave

On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 06:59:08 +0100 "Iain Strachan"
<igd.strachan@gmail.com> writes:

On 10/13/06, D. F. Siemens, Jr. <dfsiemensjr@juno.com> wrote:
As a logician, I have to say that any study that involves logic beyond
the level of the sentential, is affected by Goedel's theorem. It does not
interfere with derivations within limits, as it also does not restrict a
proof in geometry or number theory. But it presents a strong claim: there
are true statements in all these areas that cannot be proved true.

Yes, but do you not agree that the proof of Goedel's theorem is simply an
existence proof by provision of a counter-example, and furthermore that
the counter-example belongs to a particular class of self-referential
statements of the form "This statement is formally undecidable"? It
cannot imply the existence of formally undecidable propositions that
don't have this explicit form of self-reference.

I'm struggling to see how any theological statement could fit into this
category.

Iain

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Oct 13 15:02:43 2006