Aldo Antonelli, 1962-2015
Posted: 4 November 2015 Filed under: PMA news Leave a commentWith deep sadness we announce the sudden passing of Aldo Antonelli on October 11. The announcement from the UC Davis Department of Philosophy follows. If you would like to share your memories of Aldo or express your condolences, please do so at the UC Davis website.
Our colleague, friend and collaborator, Aldo Antonelli, passed away suddenly on Sunday, October 11, 2015 while bicycling in Sacramento, California. He is survived by his partner, Elaine Landry, brother David, sons Federico and Riccardo, and their mother Giovanna Fogli.
Aldo Antonelli was a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Davis. An expert in pure and applied logic, his research largely focused on issues in defeasible reasoning and non-monotonic logic. His more recent work in philosophy of logic was concerned with applications of generalized quantifier theory and abstraction principles to the foundations of arithmetic in the more general context of Fregean foundations, as well as making contributions to Frege scholarship.
Together with his partner and colleague, philosopher of mathematics Elaine Landry, Antonelli established philosophy of logic and mathematics as a focal point of scholarship in the Davis department. Antonelli was a member of the Association for Symbolic Logic, the American Philosophical Association, the Philosophy of Mathematics Association, and the Society for Exact Philosophy. He had served as coordinating editor of the Journal of Philosophical Logic and the Review of Symbolic Logic. He taught at Pittsburgh, Yale, Stanford and Michigan State, before joining the University of California, first at Irvine in 1998, and then moving to UC Davis in 2008.
Aldo’s self-description captures his spirit, focus, and sense of humor best:
I grew up in Torino, Italy, where I received my undergraduate education. After a brief stint in corporate R&D, I ended up in Pittsburgh, pursuing a graduate degree at Pitt. I taught here and there around the country for a few years before obtaining my first tenure track job. I then spent ten years at UC Irvine, including two years while on assignment abroad, before coming to Davis. My Erdös number is 4 (Paul Erdös to Joel Spencer to Nuel Belnap to Rich Thomason).
Contributions in Aldo’s memory may be made to a fund in support of graduate students working in logic and philosophy of logic. Please write checks to: UC Davis Foundation, marked “Aldo” and mail to: Chair, Department of Philosophy, One Shields Avenue, Davis CA 95616 USA. You may donate via credit card directly through an Antonelli Memorial Fund Giving page at the UC Davis website.
Workshop: New Spaces for Mathematics and Physics
Posted: 16 July 2015 Filed under: Conferences, Events of Interest Leave a commentThe following workshop will take place in the context of the the ERC project Philosophy of Canonical Quantum Gravity:
New Spaces for Mathematics and Physics: Formal and Philosophical Reflections
28 September – 2 October 2015,
Institut Henri Poincaré, Paris (France)
http://ercpqg-espace.sciencesconf.org/?lang=en
Speakers :
Mathieu Anel
Pierre Cartier
Denis-Charles Cisinski
Cecilia Flori
Patrick Iglesias-Zemmour
André Joyal
Mikhail Kapranov
Anders Kock
Maxim Kontsevich
Shahn Majid
Marco Mariño
Timothy Porter
Jean Pradines
Hanno Sahlmann
Urs Schreiber
Carlos Simpson
Michel Vaquié
Since the development of differential and algebraic varieties, the notion of space has traversed very radical transformations, both in pure mathematics and in mathematical physics. The objective of this project is to propose a formal, conceptual and historical vision of these evolutions by addressing recent notions of space in mathematics and/or physics (such as diffeologies, schemes, topoi, stacks, spin networks, homotopy types, noncommutative spaces, supermanifolds, etc.).
This conference is part of the wider project of editing a collective book on these subjects. The workshop is conceived as an opportunity to collectively discuss and enrich the different contributions to the book.
Participation is free, you can register by writing to ercpqg-espace@sciencesconf.org<mailto:ercpqg-espace@sciencesconf.org>.
Scientific Committee : Gabriel Catren et Mathieu Anel
Organisation : C. Cachot, J. Page et F. Zalamea
ERC project Philosophy of Canonical Quantum Gravity,
Laboratoire SPHERE (Sciences, Philosophie et Histoire) – UMR 7219
CNRS – Université Paris Diderot
Third APMP Meeting
Posted: 20 March 2015 Filed under: Conferences, Events of Interest Leave a commentThird International Meeting of the Association for the Philosophy of Mathematical Practice
Location: Institute Henri Poincaré in Paris, France
Dates: November 2-4, 2015
APMP website: http://institucional.us.es/apmp/
Invited speakers:
- Abel Lassalle Casanave (Brasil),
- Leo Corry (Israel),
- Silvia De Toffoli (USA),
- Jeremy Gray (UK),
- Danielle Macbeth (USA)
- Paolo Mancosu (USA).
Call for papers: We welcome paper proposals within the area of the philosophy of mathematical practice. A title and abstract (250- 500 words) should be sent to Jessica Carter, jessica@imada.sdu.dk before April 30, 2015. Notification will be sent out by June 15. Post-doctoral fellows and doctoral students are highly invited to send proposals.
The APMP aims to foster the philosophy of mathematical practice, that is, a broad outward-looking approach to understanding mathematics that engages with mathematics in practice –including issues in history of mathematics, the applications of mathematics, cognitive science, etc.
New PMA officers
Posted: 4 February 2015 Filed under: Events of Interest, PMA news Leave a commentOfficers:
Board members:
Pen Maddy, three year term.
Stewart Shapiro, three year term.
Øystein Linnebo, two year term.
Audrey Yap, two year term.
Richard Zach, one year term.
Case Studies in Mathematical Practice
Posted: 6 December 2014 Filed under: Other Leave a commentThe primary goal of this workshop is to shed light on mathematical thought and understanding by developing a rich collection of case studies drawn from the historical and current practice of mathematicians. A secondary goal is to examine the methodology of case studies with an eye towards determining which questions in the philosophy of mathematics are amenable to solution by case study methods, and which questions are not. One recurring theme of the workshop concerns the ways in which the development of new conceptual and representational resources can contribute to an increase in the intelligibility of a mathematical domain.
Workshop Leader: Kenneth Manders, University of Pittsburgh
Location: Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France
Dates: June 29, 2015 – July 4, 2015
Confirmed Participants:
- Andrew Arana, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Karine Chemla, Université Paris Diderot
- Jessica Carter, University of Southern Denmark
- Jeremy Heis, University of California, Irvine
- Douglas Marshall, Carleton College
- Marco Panza, Université Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne
For information on funding available for graduate students and recent PhDs to attend the workshop, as well as further scheduling and logistical information, please visit the workshop website at csmpparis.org.
While this event is open to the public, all who attend the workshop must register for the
workshop by sending an e-mail to csmpparis “at” gmail.com. We ask that everyone who
plans to attend register by no later than Friday, June 19, 2015.
Call for Nominations
Posted: 4 October 2014 Filed under: Events of Interest, Other Leave a commentJoint PMA/PSA session
Posted: 15 August 2014 Filed under: Conferences Leave a commentThe Philosophy of Mathematics Association is pleased to announce a PMA/PSA Special Session at this year’s PSA meeting in Chicago, November 6-9th.
Since much of philosophy of science depends on, or at least is informed by, philosophy of mathematics, it is crucial that connections between these research areas be both highlighted and valued. Well-witnessing the varying perspectives and differing investigations of philosophers of mathematics, the topics of this session will include: the history and philosophy of scientific structuralism, mereologically interpreted geometry, and the formal nature of reasoning.
The title of the session is: Perspectives in the Philosophy of Mathematics
Speakers and titles are:
- Audrey Yap: Noether’s Mathematical Structuralism;
- Geoffrey Hellman: Mereological Geometry;
- W.W. Tait: Towards the Unity of Mathematics: Classical and Constructive Reasoning.
PhilMath Position at Pitzer
Posted: 7 June 2014 Filed under: Open Positions Leave a commentGrigori Mints (1939-2014)
Posted: 7 June 2014 Filed under: Other Leave a commentThe PMA has received word of the death of Grigori (Grisha) Mints on May 29th. Lanier Anderson has posted a memorial tribute to the Stanford Philosophy Website.
