Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics () is a book of Ludwig Wittgenstein's notes on the philosophy of mathematics. It has been translated from German to English by G.E.M. Anscombe, edited by G.H. von Wright and Rush Rhees, and published first in 1956. The text has been produced from passages in various sources by selection and editing. The notes have been written during the years 1937–1944 and a few passages are incorporated in the Philosophical Investigations which were composed later. When the book appeared it received many negative reviews mostly from working logicians and mathematicians, among them Michael Dummett, Paul Bernays, and Georg Kreisel. Today Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics is read mostly by philosophers sympathetic to Wittgenstein and they tend to adopt a more positive stance. Wittgenstein's philosophy of mathematics is exposed chiefly by simple examples on which further skeptical comments are made. The text offers an extended analysis of the concept of mathematical proof and an exploration of Wittgenstein's contention that philosophical considerations introduce false problems in mathematics. Wittgenstein in the Remarks adopts an attitude of doubt in opposition to much orthodoxy in the philosophy of mathematics. Particularly controversial in the Remarks was Wittgenstein's "notorious paragraph", which contained an unusual commentary on Gödel's incompleteness theorems. Multiple commentators read Wittgenstein as misunderstanding Gödel. In 2000 Juliet Floyd and Hilary Putnam suggested that the majority of commentary misunderstands Wittgenstein but their interpretation has not been met with approval. Wittgenstein wrote The debate has been running around the so-called Key Claim: If one assumes that P is provable in PM, then one should give up the "translation" of P by the English sentence "P is not provable". Wittgenstein does not mention the name of Kurt Gödel who was a member of the Vienna Circle during the period in which Wittgenstein's early ideal language philosophy and Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus dominated the circle's thinking; multiple writings of Gödel in his Nachlass contain his own antipathy for Wittgenstein, and belief that Wittgenstein wilfully misread the theorems. Some commentators, such as Rebecca Goldstein, have hypothesized that Gödel developed his logical theorems in opposition to Wittgenstein. References External links Sorin Bangu, Ludwig Wittgenstein: Later Philosophy of Mathematics, IEP Victor Rodych, Wittgenstein's Philosophy of Mathematics, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 1953 non-fiction books Ludwig Wittgenstein Books by Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophy of mathematics literature Logic literature