Bolzano’s concept of “grounds of judgements” is one of the primary driving forces that motivates his idea of the “correct method” for deriving truths in mathematics. He claims that some judgements provide the grounds for other judgements, which are the consequences of the former, and that the main goal of scientific investigation is to find the ultimate grounds of our judgements (Notes 182). In fact, the necessity to properly ground judgements with other judgements is the very source of Bolzano’s discomfort with proofs in analysis given by his contemporaries. While he admits that, by providing geometric or spatial justifications, his contemporaries are then able to present truths that are immediately obvious and require no proof in the sense of confirmation, he believes that the truth of the justifications themselves still need to be justified (Purely 160). In Bolzano’s eyes, the proof of a proposition becomes illegitimate when justifications in the proof are grounded by results of the
Bolzano’s concept of “grounds of judgements” is one of the primary driving forces that motivates his idea of the “correct method” for deriving truths in mathematics. He claims that some judgements provide the grounds for other judgements, which are the consequences of the former, and that the main goal of scientific investigation is to find the ultimate grounds of our judgements (Notes 182). In fact, the necessity to properly ground judgements with other judgements is the very source of Bolzano’s discomfort with proofs in analysis given by his contemporaries. While he admits that, by providing geometric or spatial justifications, his contemporaries are then able to present truths that are immediately obvious and require no proof in the sense of confirmation, he believes that the truth of the justifications themselves still need to be justified (Purely 160). In Bolzano’s eyes, the proof of a proposition becomes illegitimate when justifications in the proof are grounded by results of the