LANGUAGE ACTIVITY AND LOGIC - A POSSIBLE COMING-TOGETHER

The relationship between logic and language was extended at the beginn ing of the century when mathematicians attempted to develop a meta-mat hematics, formalizing their demonstrations in terms of arithmetic proc edures. This resulted in reducing the hopes of unambiguously founding mathematics on sets. Thinking out the status of infinity has led mathe matical reasoning back into ordinary language use and has resulted in the questioning of the role of the idealization of these uses. In this perspective, as our century draws to a close, the general evolution o f ideas shows a profound unity between developments in logic, in lingu istic science, and in political ideologies.