Profile
Prof. John Lane Bell
Affiliation
Western UniversityAcademy or College
Academy of the Arts and HumanitiesYear Elected
2009Areas of Interest
Logic, Philosophy, mathematics, continuum, infinitesimals
John Bell is Canada's leading logician and philosopher of mathematics. His writings, renowned for their clarity and elegance, span a wide spectrum, including such topics as set theory, modal logic, continuum theory, space-time theory, and the philosophy of mathematics.
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BELL, John Lane –Department of Philisophy, University of Western Ontario
John Bell is Canada's leading logician and philosopher of mathematics. His writings, renowned for their clarity and elegance, span a wide spectrum, including such topics as set theory, modal logic, continuum theory, space-time theory, and the philosophy of mathematics. His work is never merely technical: it always connects with deep questions of philosophy. He is best known for a highly influential theory of mathematics as "local" rather than absolute, for the rehabilitation of early accounts of infinitesimals, and for demonstrating the constructive validity of Frege's derivation of arithmetic from logic. Several of his books are widely acknowledged classics in the field.