  Hilbert’s response was to develop an entirely new approach to the  foundations of mathematics with the ultimate goal of establishing  beyond doubt the consistency of the whole of classical mathematics,  including arithmetic, analysis, and Cantorian set theory. With the  attainment of that goal, classical mathematics would be placed  securely beyond the destructive reach of the intuitionists. The core  of Hilbert’s program was the translation of the whole apparatus of  classical mathematical demonstration into a simple, finitistic  framework (which he called “metamathematics”) involving  nothing more, in principle, than the straightforward manipulation of  symbols, taken in a purely formal sense, and devoid of further   meaning.[26]  Within metamathematics itself, Hilbert imposed a standard of  demonstrative evidence stricter even than that demanded by the  intuitionists, a form of finitism rivalling (ironically) that of  Kronecker. The demonstration of the consistency of classical  mathematics was then to be achieved by showing, within the  constraints of strict finitistic evidence insisted on by Hilbert,  that the formal metamathematical counterpart of a classical proof in  that system can never lead to an assertion evidently false, such as  \(0 = 1\).