I agree with WHAT Yuri Ivanovitch Manin says about foundations of mathematics but DISagree when he calls these foundations "pragmatic". I might be mistaken (in this case, I hope, Yuri Ivanovitch will correct me) but I don't think that in the given context the word "pragmatic" is supposed to be understood with a philosophical seriousness. In the given context "pragmatic" is rather synonymous to "practical" as opposed to "theoretical" - and perhaps also to "purely mathematical" as opposed to "philosophical". I fully share with Yuri Ivanovitch his disappointment about what he calls the "normative foundations that logicists or constructivists tried to impose". But I see a solution in a new dialectical philosophy of foundations (tightly connected to mathematical practice), NOT in developing foundations purely "pragmatically" without theoretical and philosophical grounds. The history teaches us that philosophical thinking is crucial for what Yuri Ivanovitch calls the "rebuilding" of foundations, and I don't see any reason why this might cease to be true today. On the contrary, I think that the acceleration of mathematical progress necessitates the acceleration of rebuilding of foundations - and this makes philosophy more relevant to mathematical research than ever. "Logicists and constructivists" don't have centuries to come to eternalise their findings by establishing a new Scholastic tradition in philosophy - even if some of them would wish it. Andrei [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]