Clarifying Misunderstandings, Moving Forward: Towards Standards and Tools for Set-Theoretic Methods

Critical debates can push boundaries if they are open-ended in nature. In this spirit, we appreciate David Collier’s efforts in putting together a set of articles about set theory and QCA in a symposium published in the previous issue of this newslet-ter. Many important issues about the principles and current practices of set-theoretic methods are raised and at least some contributors seem open to the possibility that set theory and QCA are worthy of being pursued and improved. We are grate-ful to the editor of the newsletter, Robert Adcock, for inviting us to respond to these arguments—an invitation we accept based on the expectation that the goal of everyone involved in this exchange is to strengthen set-theoretic methods rather than prematurely dismissing them based on what we find to be shaky arguments. We further believe that this can only be the start of a larger, open debate aimed at resolving misunder-standings and enhancing set-theoretic research.