“Circularity” is the story of a Janus-faced conceptual structure, that on the one hand led to deep scientific discoveries, and on the other hand is used to trick the mind into believing the impossible. Alongside mathematical revolutions that eventually led to the invention of the computer, the book describes ancient paradoxes that arise from circular thinking. Another aspect of circularity, its ability to entertain, leads to a surprising insight on the time old question “What is humor”.Contents:
The Protagonist of the Story
A Nation Enamored with Paradoxes
From Proof to Paradox
From Paradox to Proof
The Paradoxes of the Direction of Time
The Paradox of All Paradoxes — the Mind-Body ProblemReadership: Researchers in mathematics, philosophy and general public.Paradoxes; Circularity; Mathematical Logic; Godel; Turing; Free Will; Mind-Body Key Features:
It represents the Godel theory in a clear yet rigorous way It studies paradoxes in a unified way — unifying the so-called “logical paradoxes” and the philosophical paradoxes
It is a popular introduction to set theory