"Does set theory, once we get beyond the integers, refer to an existing reality, or must it be regarded, as formalists would regard it, as an interesting formal game? ... A typical argument for the objective reality of set theory is that it is obtained by extrapolation from our intuitions of finite objects, and people see no reason why this has less validity. Moreover, set theory has been studied for a long time with no hint of a contradiction. It is suggested that this cannot be an accident, and thus set theory reflects an existing reality. In particular, the Continuum Hypothesis and related statements are true or false, and our task is to resolve them."
Set theory

January 1, 1970

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Paul Cohen: (quote from p. 2416)

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Set_theory