Incompleteness theorems

Appeals to the incompleteness theorems in other fields

Appeals and analogies are sometimes made to the incompleteness of theorems in support of arguments that go beyond mathematics and logic. Several authors have commented negatively on such extensions and interpretations, including Franzén (2005), Raatikainen (2005), Sokal & Bricmont (1999); and Stangroom & Benson (2006). Sokal & Bricmont (1999) and Stangroom & Benson (2006), for example, quote from Rebecca Goldstein's comments on the disparity between Gödel's avowed Platonism and the anti-realist uses to which his ideas are sometimes put. Sokal & Bricmont (1999) criticize Régis Debray's invocation of the theorem in the context of sociology; Debray has defended this use as metaphorical (ibid.).