Whatisamathematicalproof?Howcanproofsbejustified?Aretherelimitationstoprovability?Towhatextentcanmachinescarryoutmathematicalproofs?
Onlyinthiscenturyhastherebeensuccessinobtainingsubstantialandsatisfactoryanswers.Thepresentbookcontainsasystematicdiscussionoftheseresults.Theinvestigationsarecenteredaroundfirst-orderlogic.OurfirstgoalisGodelscompletenesstheorem,whichshowsthattheconsequencerelationcoincideswithformalprovability:Bymeansofacalculusconsistingofsimpleformalinferencerules,onecanobtainallconsequencesofagivenaxiomsystem(andinparticular,imitateallmathematicalproofs)