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
Mathematical cognition and mathematical structuralism
April 20, 2019 16:43 - 35 minutes - 318 MB VideoValentin Sorin Costreie (Bucharest) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (9 Feb, 2012) titled "Mathematical cognition and mathematical structuralism". Abstract: Recent studies concerning mathematical cognition show that we may find mathematical cognitive capacities in young infants and monkeys. They show that we possess an innate intuition of small natural integers around the age of six month, and thus they are commonly interpreted in the sense of providing new grounds for a revival of Kantian...
Building a Better System
April 20, 2019 14:20 - 49 minutes - 407 MB VideoCraig Callender (UCSD) gives a talk at the MCMP/MCTS Workshop on Laws of Nature (17 December, 2012) titled "Building a Better System". Abstract: In this talk I'll sketch the central motivating idea behind Humean approaches to lawhood, namely, that modality arises from bodies of knowledge, not the world (see, e.g., Putnam 1962). Keeping one's eyes firmly focused on this motivation is the key to developing so-called "system" approaches to lawhood. I'll claim that it will suggest particular ways...
Making Contact with Molecules: On Perrin's Argument for Realism
April 20, 2019 14:19 - 51 minutes - 426 MB VideoStathis Psillos (Athens) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (13 December, 2012) titled "Making Contact with Molecules: On Perrin's Argument for Realism". Abstract: Between roughly 1908 and 1912, there was a turn in the scientific community in favour of the atomic hypothesis. Jean Perrin’s theoretical and experimental work on the causes of Brownian motion played a major role in this shift. When Perrin received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1926, it was noted in the presentation speech that h...
Why Physics Can't Explain Everything
April 20, 2019 14:13 - 37 minutes - 312 MB VideoMathias Frisch (Maryland) gives a talk at the MCMP/MCTS Workshop on Laws of Nature (17 December, 2012) titled "Why Physics Can't Explain Everything". Abstract: Barry Loewer and David Albert have argued for a view on laws that is at once pragmatic (and takes nomic regularities are summaries of aspects of the Humean mosaic that are useful for beings like us) and 'imperialistic' or foundationalist. I argue in this paper that there is a deep tension between the two planks of the account and sugge...
Humeanism and dispositionalism in physics
April 20, 2019 14:11 - 44 minutes - 372 MB VideoMichael Esfeld (Lausanne) gives a talk at the MCMP/MCTS Workshop on Laws of Nature (17 December, 2012) titled "Humeanism and dispositionalism in physics". Abstract: The paper sets out to make a case for a natural philosophy or naturalized metaphysics that treats physics and metaphysics as inseparable. It examines how Humeanism and dispositionalism about laws of nature fare with respect to classical as well as quantum physics. In particular, I argue that, despite widespread claims to the contr...
Trouble with Properties for Better Best Systems
April 20, 2019 14:10 - 42 minutes - 355 MB VideoMarkus Schrenk (Köln) gives a talk at the MCMP/MCTS Workshop on Laws of Nature (17 December, 2012) titled "Trouble with Properties for Better Best Systems". Abstract: In Lewis' original best system account, the mosaic of point-sized, intrinsic, quiddistic, perfectly natural, fundamental properties is the ultimate material on which everything else, laws of nature in particular, supervenes. While better best system competitions (BBSCs) for different, separate special science property sets aim t...
Ramsey vs. Lewis on conditionals and causation
April 20, 2019 14:09 - 35 minutes - 298 MB VideoHelen Beebee (Manchester) gives a talk at the MCMP/MCTS Workshop on Laws of Nature (17 December, 2012) titled "Ramsey vs. Lewis on conditionals and causation". Abstract: In this paper, I explore the prospects for a (very roughly sketched) broadly Pricean perspectivalist account of causation. The ingredient I add to the mix is the thought, familiar from Lewis and others, that causal claims express conditional relationships – except that here the relevant conditional is to be understood in Rams...
Round Table on Acceptance (Part 1)
April 20, 2019 13:32 - 1 hour - 984 MB VideoKevin Kelly (CMU Pittsburgh), Hanti Lin (CMU Pittsburgh), and Hannes Leitgeb (LMU/MCMP) present formal theories of acceptance and their application in part 1 ("Table of Contents") of the Round Table on Acceptance (3 Feb, 2012). Abstract: The Bayesianist concept of belief is described by a measure-theoretic and thus quantitative approach to probabilities as changeable degrees of belief, whereas classical epistemology views belief/acceptance as a qualitative notion. Questions arise from this c...
Tonk, Nontransitivity, and Tolerance
April 20, 2019 13:28 - 1 hour - 629 MB VideoDavid Ripley (University of Melbourne) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium titled "Tonk, Nontransitivity, and Tolerance".
Interacting Modal Predicates
March 14, 2018 20:36 - 45 minutes - 438 MB VideoMartin Fischer (MCMP/LMU Munich) gives a talk at the MCMP Workshop on Modality titled "Interacting Modal Predicates".
Alexander von Humboldt Professor Hannes Leitgeb
March 14, 2018 20:20 - 6 minutes - 63.8 MB VideoOnce again, a candidate nominated by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München has been awarded one of the coveted Alexander von Humboldt Professorships. The philosopher and mathematician Hannes Leitgeb, Professor of Mathematical Logic and Philosophy of Mathematics at the University of Bristol (UK), was selected to receive the accolade by an expert committee set up by the Humboldt Foundation. The prize, which is worth 5 million Euros, is financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and R...
New Channels for MCMP on iTunes U
May 27, 2013 16:58 - 3 minutes - 52.6 MB VideoThe MCMP is proud to present over 250 videos on iTunes U! Thanks for all your contributions in the last two years! In 2013 we are introducting 4 new channels: "Logic", "Epistemology", "Philosophy of Science", "Metaphysics and Philosophy of Language". Have fun exploring!
Alexander von Humboldt Professor Stephan Hartmann
May 08, 2013 00:00 - 7 minutes - 111 MB VideoStephan Hartmann is regarded as one of the leading scholars in the fields of formal epistemology and philosophy of science, and he became a member of the Faculty of Philosophy at LMU last October. Later today (8 May, 2013), at a ceremony in Berlin, Hartmann will officially receive Germany’s most generously endowed prize for distinguished contributions to research, the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, that brought him back to the land of his birth. Hartmann now holds the Chair of Philoso...
Local Disentanglement in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory
December 10, 2012 00:44 - 59 minutes - 491 MB VideoGiovanni Valente (Pittsburgh) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (06 December, 2012) titled "Local Disentanglement in Relativistic Quantum Field Theory". Abstract: In their paper on "Entanglement and Open Systems in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory", Clifton and Halvorson (2001) raised the question whether entanglement between quantum systems can be destroyed by means of local operations and claimed that, contrary to non-relativistic quantum mechanics, this can never be the case in relativisti...
Logic as an Instrument in Greek and Arabic Philosophy
December 10, 2012 00:43 - 1 hour - 503 MB VideoPeter Adamson (LMU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (22 November, 2012) titled "Logic as an Instrument in Greek and Arabic Philosophy". Abstract: As is well known, the Aristotelian works on logic were collectively referred to in antiquity as the Organon, meaning "instrument". Ancient Aristotelians took this seriously: for them, logic is not a part of philosophy but only a tool or instrument which one should ideally learn before embarking on the study of philosopher proper. This view was n...
On Representation Theorems
November 27, 2012 00:41 - 51 minutes - 416 MB VideoMikael Cozic (Paris) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (22 November, 2012) titled "On Representation Theorems". Abstract: Contemporary decision theory attaches much importance to representation theorems. Representation theorems are mathematical results which establish the equivalence between criteria of preferences and choices among options (e.g., expected utility) and axioms on preferences (e.g., transitivity or independence). Distinct roles can be assigned to these results. One of them is...
Toward a formal account of substance via case-intensional logic
November 27, 2012 00:40 - 49 minutes - 412 MB VideoThomas Müller (Utrecht) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (21 November, 2012) titled "Toward a formal account of substance via case-intensional logic". Abstract: Things - concrete individuals persisting through time, or more traditionally speaking, substances - are a central ontological category of our commonsensical as well as of our scientific worldview. There is, however, no satisfactory formal account of substance, or so I will argue - despite a plethora of systems of modal and temporal...
On Ground and Consequence
November 27, 2012 00:39 - 50 minutes - 422 MB VideoBenjamin Schnieder (Hamburg) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (15 November, 2012) titled "On Ground and Consequence". Abstract: The notion of grounding has proven to be a fruitful tool for philosophical analysis. While traditionally, many explications of core philosophical notions proceeded in purely modal terms, explications in terms of grounding often yield more adequate results. In my talk I will explore a new application of grounding and develop a notion of logical consequence in terms...
Logical Grounds
November 27, 2012 00:38 - 57 minutes - 469 MB VideoFabrice Correia (Neuchâtel) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (15 November, 2012) titled "Logical Grounds". Abstract: Philosophers have recently displayed a strong interest in the idea that some facts or truths hold in virtue of - or, as they say, are grounded in - others facts or truths. Grounding come in various sorts, and my talk will focus on logical grounding as opposed to e.g. metaphysical or normative grounding. I will (i) offer a proof-theoretic characterisation of the concept relat...
Classical negation and expansions of FDE
November 27, 2012 00:37 - 36 minutes - 302 MB VideoMichael De (Utrecht) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (14 November, 2012) titled "Classical negation and expansions of FDE" (joint work with Hitoshi Omori (Kobe University, Japan & CUNY, New York)). Abstract: It is sometimes said that classical negation can be recaptured in some systems of non-classical logic. But what exactly *is* classical negation? We endorse and defend one such characterization of classical negation in the context of FDE. We then provide an expansion FDE+ of FDE by thi...
Semantic minimalism for logical constants
November 27, 2012 00:36 - 55 minutes - 461 MB VideoFrancesco Paoli (Cagliari) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (14 November, 2012) titled "Semantic minimalism for logical constants". Abstract: In a 2003 paper ("Quine and Slater on paraconsistency and deviance", J. Phil. Log. 32, 2003, pp. 531-548), I defended a minimalist account of meaning for logical constants as a way to ward off Quine's meaning variance charge against deviant logics. Its key idea was that some deviant propositional logics share with classical logic the operational mean...
Concept Calculus
November 07, 2012 00:35 - 1 hour - 634 MB VideoHarvey M. Friedman (OSU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (31 October, 2012) titled "Concept Calculus". Abstract: Concept Calculus develops theories in first and second order predicate calculus arising from the analysis of various commonsense notions. The systems arising in this way are shown to closely correspond to various well known systems arising in the foundations of mathematics - via mutual interpretations. Initial work on Concept Calculus focused on the general notions of better th...
Transcendental Proofs
November 07, 2012 00:34 - 1 hour - 660 MB VideoHarvey M. Friedman (OSU) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (30 October, 2012) titled "Transcendental Proofs". Abstract: We discuss our Transcendental Proofs project, spanning approximately 45 years, which aims to uncover mathematically fundamental, rich, and diverse subareas of athematics which can only be developed by going well beyond the usual ZFC axioms for mathematics. The discussion will have mathematical, computational, and philosophical components.The mathematical component focuses...
That's it, you're grounded!
November 07, 2012 00:33 - 46 minutes - 386 MB VideoLuca Incurvati (Cambridge) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "That's it, you're grounded!". Abstract: I will begin by reviewing and further defending the minimalist approach to sets which I advanced in earlier work. Then, I will consider the prospects for extending the minimalist approach to the case of semantics. I will conclude by examining whether a minimalist approach prevents us from giving a common account of grounding assumptions in set theory an...
Grounding Class Theory
November 07, 2012 00:31 - 51 minutes - 426 MB VideoJönne Speck (Birkbeck) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Grounding Class Theory". Abstract: In this talk, I propose a conception of proper class. It brings together two separate strands of research: metaphysical and semantical groundedness. On the one hand, I use the *metaphysical* concept of grounding. Whether or not something is a member of a class, I will argue, must be grounded in other facts. On the other hand, the method of *semantical* grounde...
Dependence and Groundedness
November 07, 2012 00:30 - 1 hour - 518 MB VideoDenis Bonnay (Paris) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Dependence and Groundedness". Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss whether the notion of groundedness can be analyzed directly in terms of dependence upon non-semantic states of affairs or whether a detour via truth and falsity is always necessary.
Ground and Partial Content
November 07, 2012 00:29 - 58 minutes - 484 MB VideoKit Fine (NYU) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Ground and Partial Content". Abstract: I provide a ground-theoretic account of partial content.
Towards a theory of grounded properties
November 07, 2012 00:28 - 1 hour - 541 MB VideoØystein Linnebo (Birkbeck/Oslo) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Towards a theory of grounded properties". Abstract: I outline some desiderata for a theory of properties and then examine some attempts to develop an account of 'grounded' properties.
Alternative Supervaluation for Kripke's Theory of Truth
November 07, 2012 00:27 - 38 minutes - 318 MB VideoCaspar Storm Hansen (Aberdeen/Oslo) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Alternative Supervaluation for Kripke's Theory of Truth". Abstract: I will present a method of supervaluation for Kripke's theory of truth. It is different from Kripke's own method in that it employs trees, results in a compositional semantics, assigns the intuitively correct truth values to the sentences of a particularly tricky example of Gupta's, and is acceptable as an explicatio...
Local Dependence
November 07, 2012 00:26 - 1 hour - 521 MB VideoToby Meadows (Bristol) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Local Dependence". Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to lay out some groundwork for a general understanding of relationships between: notions of dependence and groundedness; and notions of complexity and cardinality. We commence by sketching a pleasing framework linking dependence with the theory of inductive definitions. We pose a kind of problem for this framework and attempt to explain wh...
Pure Logic of Iterated Ground
November 07, 2012 00:25 - 1 hour - 517 MB VideoJon Erling Litland (Oslo) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Pure Logic of Iterated Ground". Abstract: The presently existing logics of ground have not had anything to say about iterated grounding claims, that is, claims of the form: "A grounds that (B grounds C)". I develop a pure logic of iterated ground providing a systematic account of such iterated grounding claims. The logic is developed as a Prawitz style natural deduction system; the grounding o...
Neuroscience Perspective on the Foundations of Mathematics
November 07, 2012 00:24 - 1 hour - 499 MB VideoPatrick Suppes (Stanford) gives a talk at the Workshop on Groundedness (26-27 October, 2012) titled "Neuroscience Perspective on the Foundations of Mathematics". Abstract: I mainly ask and partially answer three questions. First, what is a number? Second, how does the brain process numbers? Third, what are the brain processes by which mathematicians discover new theorems about numbers? Of course, these three questions generalize immediately to mathematical objects and processes of a more gene...
Defusing Easy Arguments for Numbers
November 07, 2012 00:23 - 46 minutes - 389 MB VideoBrendan Balcerak Jackson (Cologne) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (25 October, 2012) titled "Defusing Easy Arguments for Numbers". Abstract: Pairs of sentences like the following pose a problem for ontology: (1) Jupiter has four moons. (2) The number of moons of Jupiter is four. (2) is intuitively a trivial paraphrase of (1). And yet while (1) seems ontologically innocent, (2) appears to imply the existence of numbers. Thomas Hofweber proposes that we can resolve the puzzle by recogniz...
Time and Knowability in Evolutionary Processes
November 07, 2012 00:22 - 49 minutes - 415 MB VideoElliott Sober (Wisconsin) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (24 October, 2012) titled "Time and Knowability in Evolutionary Processes".
Explicating Dedekind: Existential Axiomatics or Logicist Abstration?
November 07, 2012 00:21 - 1 hour - 617 MB VideoErich Reck (UCR) gives a talk at the MCMP Colloquium (18 October, 2012) titled "Explicating Dedekind: Existential Axiomatics or Logicist Abstration?". Abstract: In recent years, there has been renewed interested in Richard Dedekind as a philosopher of mathematics, especially in connection with structuralist views about the content of mathematics. In this talk, I will juxtapose two ways of interpreting Dedekind's structuralism, or better, two explications (in Carnap's sense) of his position, ...
Minding the Is-Ought Gap
October 16, 2012 01:00 - 31 minutes - 261 MB VideoCampbell Brown (Edinburgh) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Minding the Is-Ought Gap".
Moral uncertainty and normative requirements of indifference
October 16, 2012 00:20 - 26 minutes - 216 MB VideoIttay Nissan-Rozen (Jerusalem) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Moral uncertainty and normative requirements of indifference".
Social Choice and Comparative Justice: Correcting for Parochial Values
October 16, 2012 00:19 - 35 minutes - 292 MB VideoConstanze Binder (Rotterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Social Choice and Comparative Justice: Correcting for Parochial Values".
Diversity, Tolerance and the Social Contract
October 16, 2012 00:18 - 23 minutes - 198 MB VideoJustin P. Bruner (UCI) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Diversity, Tolerance and the Social Contract".
The long-run stability of collective action
October 16, 2012 00:17 - 24 minutes - 203 MB VideoElliott Wagner (Amsterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "The long-run stability of collective action".
Weighting Value
October 16, 2012 00:16 - 32 minutes - 270 MB VideoConrad Heilmann (Rotterdam) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Weighting Value".
The Evolution of Norms in Structured Populations
October 16, 2012 00:15 - 50 minutes - 418 MB VideoSimon Huttegger (UCI) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "The Evolution of Norms in Structured Populations".
Consequences of Reasoning with Conflicting Obligations
October 16, 2012 00:13 - 29 minutes - 247 MB VideoShyam Nair (USC) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Consequences of Reasoning with Conflicting Obligations".
Inductive Proofs for Many-Hands Cases in Ethics
October 16, 2012 00:12 - 18 minutes - 156 MB VideoFelix Pinkert (St Andrews) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Inductive Proofs for Many-Hands Cases in Ethics ".
Normative Consistency: an (X)stit account
October 16, 2012 00:11 - 22 minutes - 183 MB VideoGillman Payette (Calgary) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Normative Consistency: an (X)stit account".
Formal Versions of Hume's Is-Ought Thesis
October 16, 2012 00:09 - 47 minutes - 396 MB VideoGerhard Schurz (Düsseldorf) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Formal Versions of Hume's Is-Ought Thesis".
Dynamic Proof Theories for Reasoning with (Conditional) Norms
October 16, 2012 00:08 - 23 minutes - 197 MB VideoMathieu Beirlaen (Ghent) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Dynamic Proof Theories for Reasoning with (Conditional) Norms".
Fairness and Counterfactuals
October 16, 2012 00:07 - 28 minutes - 234 MB VideoHlynur Orri Stefansson (LSE) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Fairness and Counterfactuals".
Separability and admissible factorisations
October 16, 2012 00:06 - 26 minutes - 222 MB VideoRalf M. Bader (Oxford) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "Separability and admissible factorisations".
The Good Samaritan Paradox
October 16, 2012 00:05 - 24 minutes - 202 MB VideoNathan Robert Howard (Toronto) gives a talk at the MCMP Formal Ethics Workshop (11-13 October, 2012) titled "The Good Samaritan Paradox".