What did Gauss think about infinity?

Question

I have someone who is begging for a conversation with me about infinity. He thinks that Cantor got it wrong, and suggested to me that Gauss did not really believe in infinity, and would not have tolerated any hierarchy of infinities.

I can see that a constructivist approach could insist on avoiding infinity, and deal only with numbers we can name using finite strings, and proofs likewise. But does anyone have any knowledge of what Gauss said or thought about infinity, and particularly whether there might be any justification for my interlocutor's allegation?

Answer 1

You are right. Gauss did not believe in finished infinity. He would have condemned Cantor's ideas.

(Was nun Ihren Beweis anbelangt), „so protestiere ich zuvörderst gegen den Gebrauch einer unendlichen Größe als einer vollendeten, welcher in der Mathematik niemals erlaubt ist. Das Unendliche ist nur eine facon de parler, indem man eigentlich von Grenzen spricht, denen gewisse Verhältnisse so nahe kommen als man will, während anderen ohne Einschränkung zu wachsen gestattet ist. [C. F. Gauß, Briefwechsel mit Schumacher, Bd. II, p. 268 (1831)]

Translation from comments

"I protest against the use of infinite magnitude as something completed, which is never permissible in mathematics. Infinity is merely a way of speaking, the true meaning being a limit which certain ratios approach indefinitely close, while others are permitted to increase without restriction"