Dear all,
Tomorrow (Thursday Nov 19) at the Serious Metaphysics Group we will have Fiona Doherty presenting What is Maths About? (abstract below - title has changed from what's advertised on the website). The talk will be at 1.00-2.30pm, at the Philosophy Faculty Board Room. You are welcome to bring along your lunch, if you are arriving from another talk/lecture beforehand. For the rest of the Michaelmas term card, please do have a look here: http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/seminars-phil/SMG [1] Best wishes, Li Li -- What is Maths about? One of the richest exchanges exploring the nature of mathematical knowledge and truth in the 19th century is the correspondence between Frege and Hilbert concerning Hilbert's seminal _Foundations of Arithmetic_. For Hilbert, the new methodology he presents in _Foundations_ was a revolution, for Frege it was a complete failure. Most interpreters explain their disagreement as due to their opposing maxims concerning truth and existence. For Frege, the existence of the objects described by a theory is the only thing that can guarantee the consistency of that theory. For Hilbert the situation is reversed; the consistency of the axioms is all that is needed to establish truth and existence. I will argue that Frege, in fact, has the resources to accommodate Hilbert's controversial maxim that in mathematics consistency secures existence. I will then ask why Frege found Hilbert's extremely fruitful methodology so deeply problematic and suggest that his reluctance to see the importance of Hilbert's method arises from philosophically motivated worries regarding the very object of mathematics. -- Li Li Tan PhD (Probationary) in Philosophy St Catharine's College Links: ------ [1] http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/seminars-phil/SMG _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list, or change your membership options, please visit the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents List archive: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEventsArchive Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email attachments. See the list information page for further details and suggested alternatives.
