Events Calendar

17 Feb
Cathedral of Learning
Event Type

Lectures, Symposia, Etc.

Topic

Humanities

Target Audience

Alumni, Faculty, Graduate Students, Postdocs, Residents & Fellows

Website

http://www.philosophy.pitt.edu/

University Unit
Department of Philosophy
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The Dept of Philosophy Presents Zeynep Soysal - February 17th

This is a past event.

Descriptivism about Mathematical Language

Descriptivism is a metasemantic theory according to which our expressions get their meanings and referents by being associated with certain descriptions or theories. In this talk, I will develop a descriptivist theory of the meaning and reference of mathematical language and defend it against two of the most serious objections against it, viz., the problem of indeterminacy and the problem of existence. The problem of indeterminacy is that descriptivism about mathematical language seems to entail that the reference of mathematical expressions is radically indeterminate. The problem of existence is that descriptivism about mathematical language seems epistemologically idle, because it seems only capable of explaining our knowledge of conditional mathematical truths of the form ‘if there are sets, then sets are such and such’, without doing anything to explain our knowledge of the relevant mathematical entities. My solutions to both problems stem from an account of what it is to associate a description with some expressions that allows that the descriptions we associate with our mathematical and logical expressions are much richer than they are standardly construed, and that they are “anchored” in ordinary language.

Also join via Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/93765579295

Friday, February 17 at 3:30 p.m.

Cathedral of Learning, 1008
Fifth Ave at Bigelow, Pittsburgh, 15213

The Dept of Philosophy Presents Zeynep Soysal - February 17th

Descriptivism about Mathematical Language

Descriptivism is a metasemantic theory according to which our expressions get their meanings and referents by being associated with certain descriptions or theories. In this talk, I will develop a descriptivist theory of the meaning and reference of mathematical language and defend it against two of the most serious objections against it, viz., the problem of indeterminacy and the problem of existence. The problem of indeterminacy is that descriptivism about mathematical language seems to entail that the reference of mathematical expressions is radically indeterminate. The problem of existence is that descriptivism about mathematical language seems epistemologically idle, because it seems only capable of explaining our knowledge of conditional mathematical truths of the form ‘if there are sets, then sets are such and such’, without doing anything to explain our knowledge of the relevant mathematical entities. My solutions to both problems stem from an account of what it is to associate a description with some expressions that allows that the descriptions we associate with our mathematical and logical expressions are much richer than they are standardly construed, and that they are “anchored” in ordinary language.

Also join via Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/93765579295

Friday, February 17 at 3:30 p.m.

Cathedral of Learning, 1008
Fifth Ave at Bigelow, Pittsburgh, 15213

Topic

Humanities

University Unit
Department of Philosophy

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