MCMP – Mathematical Philosophy (Archive 2011/12)
250 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 6 ratingsMathematical Philosophy - the application of logical and mathematical methods in philosophy - is about to experience a tremendous boom in various areas of philosophy. At the new Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, which is funded mostly by the German Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, philosophical research will be carried out mathematically, that is, by means of methods that are very close to those used by the scientists.
The purpose of doing philosophy in this way is not to reduce philosophy to mathematics or to natural science in any sense; rather mathematics is applied in order to derive philosophical conclusions from philosophical assumptions, just as in physics mathematical methods are used to derive physical predictions from physical laws.
Nor is the idea of mathematical philosophy to dismiss any of the ancient questions of philosophy as irrelevant or senseless: although modern mathematical philosophy owes a lot to the heritage of the Vienna and Berlin Circles of Logical Empiricism, unlike the Logical Empiricists most mathematical philosophers today are driven by the same traditional questions about truth, knowledge, rationality, the nature of objects, morality, and the like, which were driving the classical philosophers, and no area of traditional philosophy is taken to be intrinsically misguided or confused anymore. It is just that some of the traditional questions of philosophy can be made much clearer and much more precise in logical-mathematical terms, for some of these questions answers can be given by means of mathematical proofs or models, and on this basis new and more concrete philosophical questions emerge. This may then lead to philosophical progress, and ultimately that is the goal of the Center.
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Episodes
Modality and Categories
April 22, 2019 19:51 - 1 hour - 593 MB VideoSteve Awodey (CMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Modality titled "Modality and Categories".
Adaptive Logics: Introduction, Applications, Computational Aspects and Recent Developments
April 22, 2019 19:46 - 1 hour - 743 MB VideoPeter Verdée (Ghent) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (8 Feb, 2012) titled "Adaptive Logics: Introduction, Applications, Computational Aspects and Recent Developments". Abstract: Peter Verd ́ee ([email protected]) Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science Ghent University, Belgium In this talk I give a thorough introduction to adaptive logics (cf. [1, 2, 3]). Adaptive logics are first devised by Diderik Batens and are now the main research area of the logicians in the Centre for Logic...
Belief Dynamics under Iterated Revision: Cycles, Fixed Points and Truth-tracking
April 20, 2019 19:08 - 1 hour - 760 MB VideoSonja Smets (University of Groningen) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Belief Dynamics under Iterated Revision: Cycles, Fixed Points and Truth-tracking". Abstract: We investigate the long-term behavior of processes of learning by iterated belief-revision with new truthful information. In the case of higher-order doxastic sentences, the iterated revision can even be induced by repeated learning of the same sentence (which conveys new truths at each stage by referring to the agent's ...
Tracking the Truth Requires a Non-wellfounded Prior!
April 20, 2019 19:07 - 1 hour - 875 MB VideoAlexandru Baltag (ILLC Amsterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Tracking the Truth Requires a Non-wellfounded Prior! A Study in the Learning Power (and Limits) of Bayesian (and Qualitative) Update". Abstract: The talk is about tracking "full truth" in the limit by iterated belief updates. Unlike Sonja's talk (which focused on finite models), we now allow the initial model (and thus the initial set of epistemic possibilities) to be infinite. We compare the truth-tracking power of...
Possible Worlds, The Lewis Principle, and the Myth of a Large Ontology
April 20, 2019 19:03 - 54 minutes - 517 MB VideoEd Zalta (Stanford) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Modality titled "Possible Worlds, The Lewis Principle, and the Myth of a Large Ontology".
Accuracy, Chance, and the Principal Principle
April 20, 2019 19:03 - 1 hour - 667 MB VideoRichard Pettigrew (University of Bristol) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Accuracy, Chance, and the Principal Principle"
Theory and Concept in Tarski's Philosophy of Language
April 20, 2019 18:58 - 1 hour - 576 MB VideoDouglas Patterson (Universität Leipzig) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Theory and Concept in Tarski's Philosophy of Language". Abstract: In this talk I will set out some of the background of Tarski's famous work on truth and semantics by looking at important views of his teachers Tadeusz Kotarbinski and Stanislaw Lesniewski in the philosophy of langauge and the "methodology of deductive sciences". With the understanding of the assumed philosophy of language and logic of the impor...
The 'fitting problem' for logical semantic systems
April 20, 2019 18:54 - 1 hour - 649 MB VideoCatarina Duthil-Novaes (ILLC/Amsterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "The 'fitting problem' for logical semantic systems". Abstract: When applying logical tools to study a given extra-theoretical, informal phenomenon, it is now customary to design a deductive system, and a semantic system based on a class of mathematical structures. The assumption seems to be that they would each capture specific aspects of the target phenomenon. Kreisel has famously offered an argument on how, ...
The conservativity of truth and the disentanglement of syntax and semantics
April 20, 2019 18:54 - 54 minutes - 515 MB VideoVolker Halbach (Oxford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "The conservativity of truth and the disentanglement of syntax and semantics"
Cognitive motivations for treating formalisms as calculi
April 20, 2019 18:54 - 1 hour - 713 MB VideoCatarina Duthil-Novaes (ILLC/Amsterdam) gives at talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Cognitive motivations for treating formalisms as calculi". Abstract: In The Logical Syntax of Language, Carnap famously recommended that logical languages be treated as mere calculi, and that their symbols be viewed as meaningless; reasoning with the system is to be guided solely on the basis of its rules of transformation. Carnap˙s main motivation for this recommendation seems to be related to a concern wit...
Do 'Looks' Reports Reflect the Contents of Perception?
April 20, 2019 18:51 - 47 minutes - 411 MB VideoBerit Brogaard (University of Missouri, St. Louis) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Do 'Looks' Reports Reflect the Contents of Perception?"
On the Emergence of Descriptive Norms
April 20, 2019 18:45 - 48 minutes - 438 MB VideoStephan Hartmann (Tilburg) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Computational Metaphysics titled "On the Emergence of Descriptive Norms".
Conclusive Reasons, Transmission, and Epistemic Closure
April 20, 2019 18:44 - 38 minutes - 361 MB VideoCharles B. Cross (University of Georgia) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Conclusive Reasons, Transmission, and Epistemic Closure".
Hume on Space and Geometry
April 20, 2019 18:40 - 48 minutes - 460 MB VideoGraciela di Pierris (Stanford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Hume on Space and Geometry". Abstract: Hume’s discussion of space, time, and mathematics in Part II of Book I of theTreatise has appeared to many commentators as one of the weakest parts of his work.I argue, on the contrary, that Hume’s views on space and geometry are deeplyconnected with his radically empiricist reliance on phenomenologically given sensoryimages. He insightfully shows that, working within this epistem...
Toward Leibniz's Goal of a Computational Metaphysics
April 20, 2019 18:39 - 48 minutes - 455 MB VideoEd Zalta (CSLI Stanford) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Computational Metaphysics titled "Toward Leibniz's Goal of a Computational Metaphysics".
Russellian Descriptions & Gibbardian Indicatives (Two Case Studies Involving Automated Reasoning)
April 20, 2019 18:39 - 45 minutes - 434 MB VideoBranden Fitelson (Rutgers University) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Computational Metaphysics titled "Russellian Descriptions & Gibbardian Indicatives (Two Case Studies Involving Automated Reasoning)". Abstract: The first part of this talk (which is joint work with Paul Oppenheimer) will be about the perils of representing claims involving Russellian definite descriptions in an "automated reasoning friendly" way. I will explain how to eliminate Russellian descriptions, so as to yield ...
Logic and the Brain
April 20, 2019 18:37 - 1 hour - 798 MB VideoHannes Leitgeb (MCMP/LMU) gives a lecture at the Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens-Stiftung titled "Logic and the Brain". Introductory words by Enno Aufderheide (secretary gemeral, Humboldt Foundation).
Accuracy & Coherence
April 20, 2019 18:37 - 49 minutes - 380 MB VideoBranden Fitelson (Rutgers University) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Bayesian Methods in Philosophy titled "Accuracy & Coherence". Abstract: In this talk, I will explore a new way of thinking about the relationship between accuracy norms and coherence norms in epistemology (generally). In the first part of the talk, I will apply the basic ideas to qualitative judgments (belief and disbelief). This will lead to an interesting coherence norm for qualitative judgments (but one which is wea...
The Lockean Thesis Revisited
April 20, 2019 18:35 - 1 hour - 541 MB VideoHannes Leitgeb (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Bayesian Methods in Philosophy titled "The Lockean Thesis Revisited".
Proof-theoretic semantics and the format of deductive reasoning & Prawitz's completeness conjecture (A sketch of some ideas)
April 20, 2019 18:35 - 1 hour - 640 MB VideoPeter Schroeder-Heister (Tübingen) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium Mathematical Philosophy - first part: "Proof-theoretic semantics and the format of deductive reasoning", second part: "Prawitz's completeness conjecture (A sketch of some ideas)".
Applying coherence based probability logic to philosophical problems
April 20, 2019 18:34 - 52 minutes - 417 MB VideoNiki Pfeifer (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Bayesian Methods in Philosophy titled "Applying coherence based probability logic to philosophical problems".
Conditionals and Suppositions
April 20, 2019 18:34 - 1 hour - 677 MB VideoRichard Bradley (LSE) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Conditionals and Suppositions". Abstract: Adams' Thesis - the claim that the probabilities of indicative conditionals equal the conditional probabilities of their consequents given their antecedents - has proven impossible to accommodate within orthodox possible worlds semantics. This paper considers the approaches to the problem taken by Jeffrey and Stalnaker (1994) and by McGee (1989), but rejects them on the grounds that th...
Diachronic Dutch Book Arguments for Forgetful Agents
April 20, 2019 18:32 - 1 hour - 608 MB VideoAlistair M. C. Isaac (University of Michigan) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Diachronic Dutch Book Arguments for Forgetful Agents". Abstract: I present a general strategy for applying diachronic Dutch book arguments to bounded agents, with particular focus on forgetful agents. Dutch book arguments were introduced by subjectivists about probability to test the consistency of synchronic epistemic norms. Diachronic Dutch book arguments (DDBs) apply this technique to test the consist...
The Contradiction in Will Test: A Reconstruction
April 20, 2019 18:29 - 1 hour - 591 MB VideoMatthew Braham (University of Bayreuth) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "The Contradiction in Will Test: A Reconstruction".
Formal epistemological explication (news for the Bayesian agenda)
April 20, 2019 18:29 - 39 minutes - 323 MB VideoVincenzo Crupi (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Bayesian Methods in Philosophy titled "Formal epistemological explication (news for the Bayesian agenda)".
Carnap on extremal axioms and categoricity
April 20, 2019 18:28 - 59 minutes - 562 MB VideoGeorg Schiemer (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Carnap titled "Carnap on extremal axioms and categoricity". Abstract: The talk will investigate Carnap's early contributions to formal semantics in his work on general axiomatics between 1928 and 1936. Inparticular, we give a historically sensitive discussion of Carnap's theoryof extremal axioms from the late 1920s onwards. The main focus is seton the unpublished documents of the projected second part of Untersuchungenzurallgemein...
Frequencies, Chances and Undefinable Sets
April 20, 2019 18:28 - 1 hour - 582 MB VideoJan-Willem Romeijn (University of Groningen) gives a talk in the talk series "MCMP & Statistics Department" titled "Frequencies, Chances and Undefinable Sets". Abstract: In this talk I aim to clarify the concept of chance. The talk consists of two parts, concerning the epistemology and metaphysics of chance respectively. In the first part I consider statistical hypothese and their role in inference. I maintain that statistical hypotheses are best explicated along frequentist lines, following ...
Knowledge about Probability in the Monty Hall Problem
April 20, 2019 18:28 - 45 minutes - 433 MB VideoCharles B. Cross (University of Georgia) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Bayesian Methods in Philosophy titled "Knowledge about Probability in the Monty Hall Problem".
Mathematical Science, Naturalism, and Normativity
April 20, 2019 18:24 - 55 minutes - 517 MB VideoMichael Friedman (Stanford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Mathematical Science, Naturalism, and Normativity". Abstract: I address concerns in contemporary philosophy about the place of mathematics andmoral (and other) norms in a naturalistic world picture. I think that these worriesare largely misplaced, and I address them with an historical narrative from Platoto Kant, beginning from the fact that Plato's original "platonism" (in the theoryof forms) tried to give a kind of unif...
Core Logic
April 20, 2019 18:24 - 38 minutes - 103 MB VideoNeil Tennant (Ohio State University) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Core Logic".
Possibilities without possible worlds/histories
April 20, 2019 18:23 - 46 minutes - 307 MB VideoTomasz Placek (Jagiellonian University, Kraków) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Possibilities without possible worlds/histories". Abstract: Possible worlds have turned out to be a particularly useful tool of modal metaphysics, although their globality makes them philosophically suspect. Hence, it would be desirable to arrive at some local modal notions that could be used instead of possible worlds. In this talk I will focus on what is known as historical (or real) modalities, an e...
Self-reference
April 20, 2019 18:17 - 53 minutes - 489 MB VideoVolker Halbach (Oxford) gives a talk at the Workshop on Mathematical Philosophy titled "Self-reference". Abstract: What does it mean for a sentence to say about itself that it is P? Here P can stand for any unary sentential function such as 'is provable', 'is not provable', 'is true', or 'is a sentence'. I will study this question in a metamathematical setting. After reviewing some early attempts to tackle the question and their impact on problems in metamathematics such as Henkin's problem, ...
Group Presentation, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (LMU)
April 20, 2019 18:17 - 1 hour - 716 MB VideoWorkshop on Mathematical Philosophy, Members of the MCMP (Roland Poellinger, Florian Steinberger, Thomas Meier, Vincenzo Crupi and Olivier Roy) present their current research.
Group Presentation, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (LMU)
April 20, 2019 18:17 - 1 hour - 716 MB VideoMembers of the MCMP (Roland Poellinger, Florian Steinberger, Thomas Meier, Vincenzo Crupi and Olivier Roy) present their current research.
Three contrasts between two senses of coherence
April 20, 2019 18:16 - 58 minutes - 557 MB VideoTeddy Seidenfeld (CMU) gives a talk in the talk series "MCMP & Statistics Department" titled "Three contrasts between two senses of coherence" (Joint work with M. J. Schervish and J. B. Kadane – Statistics, CMU). Abstract: B. de Finetti defended two senses of coherence in providing foundations for his theory of subjective probabilities. Coherence 1 requires that when a decision maker announces fair prices for random variables these are immune to a uniform sure-loss - no Book is possible using...
From Analysis to Explication
April 20, 2019 18:13 - 47 minutes - 447 MB VideoAndré Carus (Chicago/Cambridge) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Carnap titled "From Analysis to Explication". Abstract: Analytic philosophy was named for the "analysis" of propositions begun by Russelland Moore in the first years of the twentieth century, epitomized by the theory ofdescriptions.This style of analysis has been joined by many others since then. But they all share certain common defects, which are overcome by "explication," areplacement for all forms of analysis developed b...
IPAD – Information Processing and the Analysis of Democracy
April 20, 2019 18:12 - 1 hour - 567 MB VideoVincent Hendricks (Copenhagen/Columbia) gives a talk at the Workshop on Mathematical Philosophy titled "IPAD – Information Processing and the Analysis of Democracy". Abstract: Only one species have configured a democracy and decided to live according to deliberative democratic guidelines. The configuration and decision is particular to man. A deliberative democracy is characterized by both group deliberation, decision and action. Central to this epistemic composite is information as informati...
Voting, Deliberation and Truth
April 20, 2019 18:12 - 48 minutes - 457 MB VideoStephan Hartmann (Tilburg) gives a talk at the Workshop on Mathematical Philosophy titled "Voting, Deliberation and Truth". Abstract: There are various ways to reach a group decision. One way is to simply vote and decide what the majority votes for. This procedure receives some epistemological support from the Condorcet Jury Theorem. Alternatively, the group members may prefer to deliberate and will eventually reach a decision that everybody endorses -- a consensus. While the latter procedure...
An "Evidentialist" Worry About Joyce's Argument for Probabilism.
April 20, 2019 18:11 - 41 minutes - 393 MB VideoBranden Fitelson (Rutgers) gives a talk at the Workshop on Mathematical Philosophy titled "An "Evidentialist" Worry About Joyce's Argument for Probabilism.". Abstract: In this talk, I will raise a potential problem for Joyce's argument for probabilism (and sufficiently similar "accuracy-dominance"-based arguments for probabilism). The problem involves a potential conflict between "accuracy-dominance" (coherence) norms and certain "evidential" norms for credences. An interesting analogy with t...
On an occasionally heard objection to Carnap's conception of logical truth
April 20, 2019 18:09 - 31 minutes - 303 MB VideoSteve Awodey (CMU/MCMP) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Carnap titled "On an occasionally heard objection to Carnap's conception of logical truth".
Carnap's Logico-Mathematical Neutrality between Realism and Instrumentalism
April 20, 2019 18:09 - 49 minutes - 473 MB VideoMichael Friedman (Stanford) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Carnap titled "Carnap's Logico-Mathematical Neutrality between Realism and Instrumentalism". Abstract: I discuss the evolution of Carnap’s treatment of theoretical terms from the late1930s to his mature work on the Ramsey sentence formulation of scientific theoriesin the late 1950s and 1960s.I concentrate on Carnap’s use of this device toremain completely neutral between realism and instrumentalism.A central point ofdiscussion i...
Tolerance & Voluntarism
April 20, 2019 18:06 - 34 minutes - 310 MB VideoPaul Dicken (Cambridge) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Carnap titled "Tolerance & Voluntarism". Abstract: Carnap's dissolution of the scientific realism debate rests upon two central claims:the first regarding the appropriate logical reconstruction of a scientific theory;the second, a background conception of the nature of ontological dispute. Recentwork has focused on the first of these claims; in this talk I discuss the second,and relate it to similar moves made by van Fraassen in his...
Validity Curry
April 20, 2019 17:59 - 32 minutes - 316 MB VideoJulien Murzi (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Validity Curry".
Logic in Games
April 20, 2019 17:57 - 1 hour - 904 MB VideoJohan van Benthem gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Logic in Games". Abstract: We discuss logic *of* games as a foundation for rational interaction, suggesting a 'theory of play' extending standard game theory. We also discuss logic *as* games, the other direction of this contact. We conclude by looking at some natural entanglements between the two perspectives.
Inexhaustibility and Reflection
April 20, 2019 17:57 - 29 minutes - 278 MB VideoMarianna Antonutti M. (Bristol) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Inexhaustibility and Reflection".
Logics as Scientific Theories
April 20, 2019 17:55 - 1 hour - 606 MB VideoTimothy Williamson (Oxford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Logics as Scientific Theories". Abstract: Logic has far more in common with other branches of science than is usually recognized. One major aim of science is to develop theories that are true, highly general, and maximally informative subject to those constraints. When the generality requirement is made precise in some natural ways, related to Tarski’s account of logical consequence, the resultant theories meet central re...
Explorations in Bayesian confirmation and models of information search
April 20, 2019 17:55 - 42 minutes - 405 MB VideoVincenzo Crupi (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Explorations in Bayesian confirmation and models of information search".
Is logical knowledge dispositional?
April 20, 2019 17:55 - 25 minutes - 245 MB VideoFlorian Steinberger (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Is logical knowledge dispositional?".
Logic as Modelling
April 20, 2019 17:54 - 33 minutes - 323 MB VideoNeil Coleman (Bristol) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Logic as Modelling".
Logical Dynamics of Intelligent Interaction
April 20, 2019 17:53 - 1 hour - 789 MB VideoJohan van Benthem gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Logical Dynamics of Intelligent Interaction". Abstract: We morivate the logical dynamics of information-driven agency, and then discuss it from three perspectives: as a natural extension of the traditional scope of logic, as a foundation for the interdisciplinary study of agency, and as a source of new mathematical issues of pure interest.