All posts by Richard Zach

Frege on the Foundation of Geometry in Intuition

I investigate the role of geometric intuition in Frege’s early mathemat- ical works and the significance of his view of the role of intuition in geometry to properly understanding the aims of his logicist project. I critically evaluate the interpretations of Mark Wilson, Jamie Tappen- den, and Michael Dummett. The final analysis that I provide clarifies the relationship of Frege’s restricted logicist project to dominant trends in German mathematical research, in particular to Weierstrassian arith- metization and to the Riemannian conceptual/geometrical tradition at Göttingen. Concurring with Tappenden, I hold that Frege’s logicism should not be understood as a continuing a project of reductionist arith- metization. However, Frege does not quite take up the Riemannian ban- ner either. His logicism supports a hierarchical understanding of the structure of mathematical knowledge, according to which arithmetic is applicable to geometry but not vice versa because the former is more general, as revealed by the strictly logical nature of its objects in com- parison to the intuitional nature of geometric objects. I suggest, in par- ticular, that Frege intended that foundational work would show the use of geometric intuition in complex analysis, a source of error for Rie- mann that Weierstrass was proud to have uncovered, to be inessential.

SSHAP 2016 – Change of Venue

We initially planned to hold the next meeting of SSHAP in Rio de Janeiro in the Summer of 2016. However,  that is also when and where the next Olympic Games will take place and we were unable to find a hotel that would accommodate everyone, or many hotels that would each accommodate some of us. Everything is booked out. Fortunately, the local organisers (Dirk Greiman and Jean-Yves Beziau) and invited speakers (Mike Beaney, Juliet Floyd and Leila Haaparanta) have graciously accepted to postpone the Rio meeting to 2017 (dates to be confirmed).

We are currently finalising arrangements for a new venue for the 2016 annual meeting of SSHAP and we’ll make an announcement in early September. The CFP will follow shortly thereafter.

CfP: Ernst Mach Centenary Conference 2016

Ernst Mach (1838-1916) – Life, Work, and Influence

International Conference on the Occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the Institute Vienna Circle (www.univie.ac.at/ivc)

Location: University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences

Date: June 16-18, 2016

We invite the submission of contributed papers and proposals for symposia for the international “Ernst Mach Centenary Conference”. Contributions related to one ore more of the subsequent sections are welcome. Conference languages: English, German, French.

The Program Committee encourages especially submissions from women and junior scholars from all fields and countries. Limited financial support for travel and a reduced registration fee for graduate students will be provided. Related questions can be directed to the local organizer Friedrich Stadler: Friedrich.Stadler@univie.ac.at

Proposal for individual papers (Word or pdf format) should contain:

  • Title and abstract (1000 characters) and extended abstract (1000 words) of the paper. In the case of papers dealing with related topics we welcome the submission of proposals for symposia. All titles and abstracts for individual papers in the symposium should be included in the submission. (Each symposium will be allotted 120 minutes).
  • Address of the speaker(s) incl. email, phone and institutional affiliation

Submission to: ivc@univie.ac.at, subject: “Mach Centenary Conference 2016”. Please prepare your submission for blind review.

The time unit for one paper is 40 minutes (max. 30 minutes speaking time). A selection of contributed papers and symposia will appear as a volume with Springer Publisher.

  • Deadline for submissions: January 30, 2016
  • Date of notifications: March 15, 2016

Registration required (fees to be announced in time):

  • Early registration deadline: April 30, 2016
  • Online registration deadline: June 15, 2016
  • Conference website: tba

Main Organizers:

  • University of Vienna, Institute Vienna Circle, Faculty of Philosophy and Education, together with other Faculties to be announced.
  • Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)

Together with: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Deutsches Museum (German Museum), Munich Masaryk University, Brno / Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

Program Committee: Members of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook (Springer) and Editors of the Ernst Mach Studienausgabe / Ernst Mach Edition http://xenomoi.de/philosophie/mach-ernst/216/ernst-mach-studienausgabe

Sections:

  1. Ernst Mach’s Life and Work in Context
  2. Mach as a Physicist and the Physicists of his Time: Planck, Boltzmann, Einstein …
  3. Mach, Biology, and the Life Sciences: Darwinism, Lamarckism, Theory of Evolution
  4. Mach and Physiology, Psychology, Psychoanalysis
  5. Mach and the Medical Sciences, esp. the Vienna School of Medicine
  6. Mach and the History and Philosophy of Science (HPS, Historical Epistemology)
  7. Mach, Didactics, and Pedagogy: Textbooks, Genetic Theory of Learning
  8. Mach and „Austrian Philosophy“: F. Brentano, E. Husserl, L. Wittgenstein, K. Popper …
  9. Mach and the Vienna Circle/Ernst Mach Society, esp. M. Schlick (1882-1936).
  10. Mach and Pragmatism: Ch.S. Peirce, W. James, J. Dewey and The Monist
  11. Mach, the Social Sciences, and Politics (W.I. Lenin, F. Adler and Austro-Marxism)
  12. Mach, Literature, Music, and the Arts (Impressionism, „Jung Wien”, R. Musil etc.)
  13. Open Section: Topics not covered above

Special Symposium: E. Mach, P. Duhem and French Philosophy of Science. On the Occasion of the Centenary of Pierre Duhem’s Death (1861-1916)

JHAP Essay Prize Winners

The Editorial Board of the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy is delighted to announce the winners, ex-aequo, of the JHAP Essay Prize 2014:

Karl Egerton (Birkbeck College) for “Getting off the Inwagen: a critique of Quinean metaontology” 

Luis Duarte D’Almeida (University of Edinburgh) for “Geach and Ascriptivism: Beside the ‘Point’”

The two essays will be published in a forthcoming special issue of JHAP.

CFP: Women in Early Analytical Philosophy (Ghent, October 2015)

Women in Early Analytical Philosophy

5 October, 2015, Ghent University, in collaboration with the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy.

Invited Keynote Speakers:
Julia Driver (WashU, St. Louis)
Anna Brozek (Cracow)

We invite abstracts (500 words) for papers to be presented at a workshop on any topic pertaining to women in early analytical philosophy. By ‘early’ we mean roughly through 1950.

The main aim is of the workshop is to better understand the extent and substance of women’s neglected contribution to analytical philosophy. We welcome papers on, for example, individual women and groups of women; we also welcome papers on the role of gender & sexuality in early analytical philosophy.

PhD students and early career scholars are especially encouraged to apply.

We hope to publish a selection of papers in the Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy.

Conference hosts: Maria Van der Schaar (Leiden) & Eric Schliesser (Gent/Amsterdam)

Please send an abstract to Eric Schliesser <nescio2@yahoo.com> by 28 July, 2015.