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
On a Proposed Extension of Infinitary Logic
April 20, 2019 17:53 - 1 hour - 677 MB VideoTimothy Williamson (Oxford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "On a Proposed Extension of Infinitary Logic". Abstract: In discussing ‘translation’ schemes between possibilist discourse about merely possible objects and actualist discourse that abjures such objects, Kit Fine proposed interpreting quantifiers over pluralities or sets of possibilia using infinite sequences of modal operators and actualist quantifiers. After explaining the philosophical background, the talk will concern ...
An Ontological Argument for the Existence of Numbers?
April 20, 2019 17:53 - 17 minutes - 152 MB VideoJohannes Korbmacher (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "An Ontological Argument for the Existence of Numbers?".
Structural Realism in Linguistics
April 20, 2019 17:52 - 27 minutes - 267 MB VideoThomas Meier (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Structural Realism in Linguistics".
Meaning and Interpretation in Birkhoff/Von Neumann quantum logic
April 20, 2019 17:52 - 20 minutes - 194 MB VideoBenjamin Eva (Bristol) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Meaning and Interpretation in Birkhoff/Von Neumann quantum logic".
Is theory choice using epistemic virtues possible?
April 20, 2019 17:50 - 32 minutes - 306 MB VideoKit Patrick (Bristol) and Kate Hodesdon (Bristol) give a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Is theory choice using epistemic virtues possible?".
Variations of Avoiding the Arrow Impasse
April 20, 2019 17:49 - 44 minutes - 424 MB VideoMartin Rechenauer (LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Variations of Avoiding the Arrow Impasse".
The Ins and Outs of Mathematical Explanation
April 20, 2019 17:47 - 50 minutes - 481 MB VideoMark Colyvan (Sydney) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "The Ins and Outs of Mathematical Explanation". Abstract: Proofs of mathematical theorems tell us that the theorem is true, but some proofs go further and tell us why the theorem is true. That is, some, but not all, proofs are explanatory. Call this intra-mathematical explanation. It has been argued that whenever there are physical applications of the theorems in question, we also have mathematical explanations of physical pheno...
Modal Logic From a Categorical Point of View
April 20, 2019 17:46 - 21 minutes - 205 MB VideoHans-Christoph Kotzsch (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Modal Logic From a Categorical Point of View".
Frege’s Philosophy of Geometry
April 20, 2019 17:46 - 1 hour - 756 MB VideoMatthias Schirn (LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (18 Jan, 2012) titled "Frege’s Philosophy of Geometry". Abstract: My talk tonight is in five sections. I begin with introductory remarks. In the second section, I cast a glance at Frege’s early views on geometry and arithmetic, while in the third I comment on the relationship between Frege’s and Kant’s views of geometrical knowledge. In the fourth section, I examine, in a critical way, Frege’s remarks on space, spatial intuition, and g...
Set-Rationalizable Choice and Self-Stability
April 20, 2019 17:46 - 46 minutes - 447 MB VideoPaul Harrenstein (TUM) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "Set-Rationalizable Choice and Self-Stability".
Are Theories of Reference Empirically Testable?
April 20, 2019 17:46 - 1 hour - 638 MB VideoDaniel Cohnitz (Tartu) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Are Theories of Reference Empirically Testable?".
A Dictator Theorem on Belief Revision Derived from Arrow's Theorem
April 20, 2019 17:45 - 28 minutes - 269 MB VideoHannes Leitgeb (MCMP/LMU) gives a talk at the Bristol-Munich Workshop titled "A Dictator Theorem on Belief Revision Derived from Arrow's Theorem".
A Generalised Sorites
April 20, 2019 17:43 - 55 minutes - 530 MB VideoMark Colyvan (Sydney) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "A Generalised Sorites ". Abstract: I present a topological version of the sorites paradox that holds both practical and theoretical interest. On the theoretical side, the topological sorites reveals shortcomings of some of the standard philosophical treatments of the garden-variety sorites, it forces us to rethink our definition of 'vagueness', and it suggests that the liar and sorites paradoxes are much closer related than one...
Modeling Semantic Competence: a Critical Review of Frege's Puzzle (as an argument against Millianism)
April 20, 2019 17:41 - 1 hour - 838 MB VideoRasmus K. Rendsvig (Roskilde) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Modeling Semantic Competence: a Critical Review of Frege's Puzzle (as an argument against Millianism)". Abstract: I will discuss Frege's Puzzle about Identity as an argument against a Millian theory of meaning for proper names. The key notion analyzed is semantic competence. Strict notions of semantic competence are extrapolated from a two-sorted first order epistemic logical modeling of a cognitive neuropsychological t...
Two Varieties of Knowledge
April 20, 2019 17:38 - 1 hour - 576 MB VideoGerhard Ernst (Stuttgart) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Two Varieties of Knowledge". Abstract: The analysis of knowledge is, as it seems, a doomed project. Many definitions have been proposed – only to be refuted immediately. In this paper I argue that the reason for this predicament is that there are two slightly different varieties of knowledge which have to be analysed separately. So, the reason why no definition of knowledge is satisfactory is that there is no such defintio...
A Regret-Based Model for Wishful Thinkers
April 20, 2019 17:38 - 59 minutes - 563 MB VideoSimone Duca (RUB & HHU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "A Regret-Based Model for Wishful Thinkers". Abstract: The study of decision making can be divided into three categories, according to how much information is available to the agent. We talk of decision making under risk, uncertainty and ignorance, whenever the agent is facing a decision under complete probabilistic knowledge, incomplete probabilistic knowledge and no probabilistic knowledge re- spectively. In my talk, I wish ...
Neglect of Independence and Uncertainty (or Randomness) in the Axioms of Probability
April 20, 2019 17:36 - 1 hour - 577 MB VideoPatrick Suppes (Stanford) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Neglect of Independence and Uncertainty (or Randomness) in the Axioms of Probability".
Applications of multi-dimensional propositional logics
April 20, 2019 17:36 - 54 minutes - 520 MB VideoIngolf Max (Leipzig) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Applications of multi-dimensional propositional logics". Abstract: Multi-dimensional propositional logics are formal systems which we get if we extend the language of classical propositional logic by ordered n-tuples of classical formulas and suitable operators having multi-dimensional expressions as their arguments. There are several kinds of motivation to deal with multi-dimensional logics in general and with multi-dimensional...
Empirical Research and The Philosophy of Mathematics
April 20, 2019 17:35 - 1 hour - 608 MB VideoMarkus Pantsar (Helsinki) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Empirical Research and The Philosophy of Mathematics". Abstract:In the philosophy of mathematics, one of the most fundamental questions concerns how mathematical methods help us get knowledge of the world. In this, mathematics with its apparent a priori character seems to be radically different from the empirical methods we otherwise rely on in science. This relation between the mathematical and the empirical has received e...
How can we find some reasoning that people do, for which a particular logic is the appropriate model?
April 20, 2019 17:30 - 56 minutes - 540 MB VideoKeith Stenning (Edinburgh) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "How can we find some reasoning that people do, for which a particular logic is the appropriate model?". Abstract:The psychology of deductive reasoning has extensively investigated tasks which it has supposed classical logic to be the appropriate standard of reasoning for, and the goal that subjects adopt in its laboratories. \cite{stvl08:book} presents evidence for a range of these tasks that a substantial proportion of s...
Truth and Context Change
April 20, 2019 17:29 - 1 hour - 568 MB VideoAndreas Stokke (Oslo) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Truth and Context Change". Abstract:Traditional semantics rests on the notion that the meaning of a declarative sentence is given by its truth conditions. Beginning in the 1980's this paradigm was challenged by so-called dynamic semantics. According to these theories, the meaning of a sentence is a context change potential, a measure of how an utterance of the sentence in question affects the conversational context. The shift ...
Systematicity: The Nature of Science
April 20, 2019 17:27 - 1 hour - 623 MB VideoPaul Hoyningen-Huene (Hannover) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Systematicity: The Nature of Science".
Causal structural realism
April 20, 2019 17:25 - 1 hour - 680 MB VideoMichael Esfeld (Lausanne) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Causal structural realism". Abstract: Der Vortrag entwickelt zwei Thesen: (1) Die fundamentalen physikalischen Eigenschaften sind in erster Linie Relationen statt intrinsischer Eigenschaften, so dass der fundamentale physikalische Bereich aus Strukturen statt einzelner Objekte mit einer intrinsischen Identität besteht. (2) Die physikalischen Strukturen sind kausal wirksam und unterscheiden sich dadurch von mathematischen St...
Logical abstractions and logical objects in Frege: a critical approach
April 20, 2019 17:24 - 1 hour - 878 MB VideoMatthias Schirn (LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (26 Jan, 2012) titled "Logical abstractions and logical objects in Frege: a critical approach". Abstract: In this talk, I shall critically discuss some key issues related to Frege’s notion of logical object, his paradigms of second-order abstraction principles (Hume’s Principle and Axiom V; see my handout), his logicism and, if time allows, the position which has come to be known as neo-logicism. Although the notion of logical object ...
The First-Order Logic of the Tractatus
April 20, 2019 17:21 - 59 minutes - 548 MB VideoKai F. Wehmeier (Irvine) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "The First-Order Logic of the Tractatus". Abstract: First-order logic with identity, while not isolated as a logical system in its own right until the end of the 1920s, is arguably a natural fragment of the logic envisaged by Wittgenstein in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. We will discuss two distinctive features of the system sketched there, namely the abolition of the equality sign and the use of a (purportedly) single ...
The completeness of Kant's Table of Judgements and its consequences for philosophy of mathematics
April 20, 2019 17:17 - 1 hour - 643 MB VideoMichiel van Lambalgen (Amsterdam) and Dora Achourioti (Amsterdam) give a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (9 Nov, 2011) titled "The completeness of Kant's Table of Judgements and its consequences for philosophy of mathematics". Abstract: It is a common belief among logicians that Kant's discussion of logic in his Critique of Pure Reason has little to offer to modern practitioners, since it appears to consist only of syllogistics plus some propositional inferences. Kant himself considered logic to ...
An Empirically testable Theory of Causality
April 20, 2019 17:16 - 1 hour - 660 MB VideoGerhard Schurz (Düsseldorf) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (12 Jan, 2012) titled "An Empirically testable Theory of Causality". Abstract: Is the concept of causality a cognitive illusion without empirical content (as Hume taught us), or does it have a cognitively and empirically valuable function? This is the central question of this talk. I argue that should be understood as a theoretical concept, in analogy with "force" in Newtonian physics. The difference is only that 'causality' does...
Abstract Explanation and Difference-Making
April 20, 2019 17:15 - 43 minutes - 415 MB VideoChristopher Pincock (Missouri) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Abstract Explanation and Difference-Making". Abstract: Recent work on scientific explanation by Woodward and Strevens has emphasized the significance of causal explanation. Both philosophers allow for a kind of non-causal explanation, but have done little to clarify its importance for science or its relationship to causal explanation. In this paper I argue for a kind of non-causal explanation that I call abstract expla...
Modeling AGM Belief Revision by Possible Worlds Semantics: The Case of Chellas-Segerberg Semantics
April 20, 2019 17:13 - 1 hour - 608 MB VideoMatthias Unterhuber (Düsseldorf) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (12 Jan, 2012) titled "Modeling AGM Belief Revision by Possible Worlds Semantics: The Case of Chellas-Segerberg Semantics". Abstract: Both AGM belief revision and conditional logics use the Ramsey test to spell out how to evaluate (indicative) conditionals. In AGM belief revision the Ramsey test is specified on the basis of belief revision operations. In my talk I will take the reverse approach and explore in how far a condi...
The Power of the Hexagon
April 20, 2019 17:12 - 52 minutes - 459 MB VideoJean-Yves Beziau (Rio de Janeiro) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (15 Dec, 2011) titled "The Power of the Hexagon". Abstract: In this lecture I will present and discuss the hexagon of opposition, an improvement of the square of opposition due to Robert Blanché. The hexagon of Blanché is made of a triangle of contrariety and a triangle of subcontrariety linked together by the relations of contradiction and subalternation. This hexagon includes the traditional square and can be extended to ...
Retrocausality - What Would it Take?
April 20, 2019 17:12 - 43 minutes - 388 MB VideoHuw Price (Cambridge) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Retrocausality - What Would it Take?". Abstract: Some writers argue that retrocausality offers an attractive loophole in Bell's Theorem, allowing an explanation of EPR-Bell correlations without "spooky action-at-a-distance." This idea originated more than a decade before Bell's famous result, when de Broglie's student, Olivier Costa de Beauregard, first proposed that retrocausality plays a role in EPR contexts. The proposal is ...
The ghosts of departed quantities as the soul of computation
April 20, 2019 17:12 - 51 minutes - 432 MB VideoSam Sanders (Belgium) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "The ghosts of departed quantities as the soul of computation". Abstract: Using techniques from Nonstandard Analysis, we introduce omega-invariance: a new notion of computability based on infinitesimals. We show that omega-invariance can capture two central notions of computability, namely those provided by Recursion Theory and Constructive Analysis. We discuss the philosophical implications of these results.
Logic or probability? An ERP study on defeasible reasoning
April 20, 2019 17:10 - 48 minutes - 462 MB VideoMichiel van Lambalgen (Amsterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (10 Nov, 2011) titled "Logic or probability? An ERP study on defeasible reasoning". Abstract: Currently there is a vociferous debate over the question, whether actual human non-monotonic reasoning is best captured by a non-monotonic logic, or by probability theory. We take as concrete example the 'suppression task' in which supplementary information may lead to the withdrawal of an earlier conclusion from a modus ponens arg...
Constants and Consequences
April 20, 2019 17:10 - 57 minutes - 503 MB VideoDenis Bonnay (Paris) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (8 Dec, 2011) titled "Constants and Consequences (joint work with D. Westerstahl)". Abstract: Given an interpreted language and a set of logical constants, Tarski's semantic definition of logical consequence yields a consequence relation. But given a consequence relation, is there a natural way to extract from it a set of logical constants? In this talk, we will compare two ways of doing so, one purely syntactical, which is based on the...
Development of Counterfactual Reasoning & Emotions
April 20, 2019 17:09 - 48 minutes - 441 MB VideoJosef Perner (Salzburg) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (14 Dec, 2011) titled "Development of Counterfactual Reasoning & Emotions". Abstract: Controlling for suppositional reasoning when asked counterfactual questions children do not engage in counterfactual reasoning before 9 to 12 years. Without this control even 3 year olds can give correct answers. For instance when asked, “Suppose Carol takes her dirty shoes off before she walks across the floor, will the floor be dirty or clean?” on...
Truth Approximation by Basic and Refined Belief Base Revision
April 20, 2019 17:09 - 1 hour - 630 MB VideoTheo A. F. Kuipers (Groningen) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (25 Jan, 2012) titled "Truth Approximation by Basic and Refined Belief Base Revision". Abstract: In a forthcoming paper, I have generalized the bridge, due to Cevolani, Crupi and Festa (2011), between the conjunctive approach of verisimilitude and AGM-Hansson belief base revision from finite propositional languages to the general case of approaching any divide of a (finite or infinite) universe, allowing all relevant interpret...
Why Metrical Properties are not Powers
April 20, 2019 17:04 - 47 minutes - 444 MB VideoAndreas Bartels (Bonn) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (19 Jan, 2012) titled "Why Metrical Properties are not Powers". Abstract: What has the dispositional analysis of properties and laws (e.g. Molnar 2003, Mumford 2004, Bird 2007) to offer to the scientific understanding of physical properties? – The paper provides an answer to this question for the case of spacetime points and their metrical properties in General Relativity. The analysis shows that metrical properties are not ‘powers’, ...
The Bayesian Miracle
April 20, 2019 17:02 - 59 minutes - 463 MB VideoKevin T. Kelly (CMU) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "The Bayesian Miracle".
Ordering Risky Prospects - Prioritarianism: an Ecumenical Approach
April 20, 2019 17:01 - 57 minutes - 536 MB VideoLuc Bovens (LSE) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Ordering Risky Prospects - Prioritarianism: an Ecumenical Approach".
General-Elimination Harmony
April 20, 2019 16:58 - 1 hour - 664 MB VideoStephen Read (St. Andrews) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (2 Feb, 2012) titled "General-Elimination Harmony". Abstract: Michael Dummett introduced the notion of harmony in response to Arthur Prior's tonkish attack on the idea of proof-theoretic justification of logical laws (or analytic validity). But Dummett vacillated between different conceptions of harmony, in an attempt to use the idea to underpin his anti-realism. Dag Prawitz had already articulated an idea of Gerhard Gentzen's int...
Dynamic Logic of Reasoning
April 20, 2019 16:56 - 42 minutes - 325 MB VideoBarteld Kooi (Groningen) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Dynamic Logic of Reasoning".
How uncertain do we need to be?
April 20, 2019 16:55 - 48 minutes - 444 MB VideoJon Williamson (Kent) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "How uncertain do we need to be?".
Subjective probabilities need not be sharp
April 20, 2019 16:54 - 37 minutes - 352 MB VideoJake Chandler (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Subjective probabilities need not be sharp".
Logics for 'Soft' Interactive Epistemology
April 20, 2019 16:54 - 43 minutes - 404 MB VideoSonja Smets (ILLC Amsterdam) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Logics for 'Soft' Interactive Epistemology".
Updating on Conditionals
April 20, 2019 16:53 - 26 minutes - 248 MB VideoSoroush Rafiee Rad (Tilburg) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Updating on Conditionals" (joint work with Stephan Hartmann).
The Precautionary Principle Reconceptualized
April 20, 2019 16:52 - 33 minutes - 311 MB VideoKai Spiekermann (LSE) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "The Precautionary Principle Reconceptualized".
Does Radical Uncertainty Require Regime Change?
April 20, 2019 16:52 - 52 minutes - 501 MB VideoLeonard A. Smith (LSE) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Does Radical Uncertainty Require Regime Change?".
Can free evidence be bad?
April 20, 2019 16:52 - 30 minutes - 291 MB VideoSeamus Bradley (LSE) gives a talk at the Rationality & Decision Meeting Munich (26-28 Jan, 2012) titled "Can free evidence be bad?" (joint work with Katie Steele).
Validity without Reference
April 20, 2019 16:48 - 48 minutes - 455 MB VideoChristopher Gauker (Cincinnati) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (9 Feb, 2012) titled "Validity without Reference". Abstract: Two definitions of logical validity for a simple first-order language will be compared in order to decide which one provides a better model for the semantics for natural language. One of these is the standard model-theoretic definition. The other defines contexts as structures of linguistic objects and then defines validity as preservation of truth-in-a-context. ...
Stratified Truth?
April 20, 2019 16:45 - 58 minutes - 558 MB VideoAndrea Cantini (Florence) gives a talk at the Axiomatic versus Semantic Truth Conference (14-16 March, 2012) titled "Stratified Truth?".