Jean van Heijenoort
1912--1986

23 July 2012 marks the centenary of the birth of historian and philosopher 
of logic Jean van Heijenoort, whose anthology *From Frege to Gödel *helped 
define the nature and scope of modern mathematical logic for several 
generations of logicians and the canon of fundamental works that comprise 
the text for the formative period of mathematical logic as we know it 
today. His influence in the history of mathematical logic was furthered by 
his work as the editor of the papers of Jacques Herbrand and in his 
contributions to the publication of the multi-volume *Collected Works* of 
Kurt Gödel. The articles, published and unpublished, that were brought 
together in his *Selected Essays* articulated his conception of the course 
of the origin and development of mathematical logic. His *El desarrollo de 
la teoría de la cuantificación* provided an exposition of the ?family of 
formal systems? that comprise quantification theory and its proof 
procedures: the axiomatic method, itself comprised of Frege-type systems 
and Hilbert-type systems; Herbrand quantification; natural deduction; and 
the Gentzen sequent calculus, which van Heijenoort enumerated as the four 
principal approaches to first-order predicate calculus. He briefly 
examined the history of each and considered them in their classical, 
intuitionistic, and minimal versions and compared the strengths and 
weaknesses of each.

As editor of *From Frege to Gödel*, van Heijenoort exercised a critical 
influence on the historiography of logic through much of the second half 
of the twentieth century. Although aspects of his views on the nature and 
scope of mathematical logic have more recently been challenged, as have 
aspects of his conception of the history of mathematical logic, his ideas 
remain of continuing influence among historians and philosophers of logic 
and frequently serve as the starting point in discussions which challenge 
his views, for example, his emphasis on the pivotal work of Gottlob Frege, 
and corresponding lesser emphasis on the contributions of Frege?s 
contemporaries among the algebraic logicians, and in particular of Charles 
Sanders Peirce and Ernst Schröder, which he considered largely 
peripherally and indirectly, through the lens of the Löwenheim-Skolem 
Theorem and Herbrand?s Fundamental Theorem. Thus van Heijenoort?s work 
continues to occupy a significant place in the historiography and 
philosophy of logic.

In addition to his historical work, van Heijenoort left a body of 
manuscripts and typescripts, many of which were distributed to a handful 
of close colleagues and to his Brandeis University logic students, and in 
which he explored the model-theoretic properties of the falsifiability 
tree method, particularly its soundness and completeness, and the relation 
between the truth tree and falsifiability tree methods and its ancestors, 
in particular Herbrand quantification and Beth tableaux. In his 
*Introduction ??a sémantique des logiques non-classiques*, van Heijenoort 
applied the tree method to intuitionistic and modal logic.

The following have already consented to contribute to this Special Issue:

Irving H. Anellis (Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis)
Solomon Feferman (Stanford University)
John W. Dawson (Pennsylvania State University at York)
Philippe de Rouilhan (Université de Paris, I)
Georg Kreisel (Institut für Wissenschaftstheorie, Salzburg)

In addition, this special issue will include Jean van Heijenoort?s 1974 
manuscript ?Historical Development of Modern Logic?, with an introduction 
by the editor.

We invite contributions to the special issue of *Logica Universalis* 
devoted to any and all aspects of van Heijenoort?s work in logic, its 
history and philosophy. Contributions for consideration should be sent in 
PDF to the guest editor Irving H. Anellis at ianellis@iupui.edu.

Publication schedule:

Initial submission: 31 January 2012
Preview copy: 31 March 2012
Final copy:   31 May 2012
Publication target date: 23 July 2012


Irving H. Anellis
Visiting Research Associate
Peirce Edition Project
Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis