Set Theory, Dynamism, and the Event: Reinjecting Time into the Foundations of Mathematics

Abstract

This article concentrates on exploring the relevance of the postmodernist concept of the event to mathematical philosophy and the foundations of mathematics. In both the scientific and philosophical study of nature, and particularly event ontology, we find that space and dynamism are fundamental. However, whether based on set theory or category theory, modern mathematics faces conceptual and philosophical difficulties when the temporal is intentionally invoked as a key aspect of that intrinsic dynamism so characteristic of mathematical being, physical becoming, process, and thought. We present a multidisciplinary investigation targeting a diverse audience including mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers who are interested in exploring alternative modes of doing mathematics or using mathematics to approach nature. Our aim is to understand both the formal character and the philosophy of time as realized through a radical mode of thinking that goes beyond the spatial in mathematics. In particular, we suggest the need to transcend the purely geometrical view altogether in future foundational research in both mathematics and mathematical philosophy. We reexamine these issues at a fundamental and comprehensive level, where a detailed exposition and critique of both modern set theories and theories of space is outlined, with emphasis on how the philosophy of Idealism has been permeating much of old and new mathematics. Furthermore, toward the end of the article, we explore some possible constructive directions in mathematical ontology by providing new proposals on how to develop a fragment of mathematics for the description of dynamic events.