CfA: Foundations of Mathematical Structuralism

12-14 October 2016
Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU Munich

In the course of the last century, different general frameworks for the foundations of mathematics have been investigated. The orthodox approach to foundations interprets mathematics in the universe of sets. More recently, however, there have been other developments that call into question the whole method of set theory as a foundational discipline. Category-theoretic methods that focus on structural relationships and structure-preserving mappings between mathematical objects, rather than on the objects themselves, have been in play since the early 1960s. But in the last few years they have found clarification and expression through the development of homotopy type theory. This represents a fascinating development in the philosophy of mathematics, where category-theoretic structural methods are combined with type theory to produce a foundation that accounts for the structural aspects of mathematical practice. We are now at a point where the notion of mathematical structure can be elucidated more clearly and its role in the foundations of mathematics can be explored more fruitfully.

The main objective of the conference is to reevaluate the different perspectives on mathematical structuralism in the foundations of mathematics and in mathematical practice. To do this, the conference will explore the following research questions: Does mathematical structuralism offer a philosophically viable foundation for modern mathematics? What role do key notions such as structural abstraction, invariance, dependence, or structural identity play in the different theories of structuralism? To what degree does mathematical structuralism as a philosophical position describe actual mathematical practice? Does category theory or homotopy type theory provide a fully structural account for mathematics?

Confirmed Speakers

• Prof. Steve Awodey (Carnegie Mellon University)
• Dr. Jessica Carter (University of Southern Denmark)
• Prof. Gerhard Heinzmann (Université de Lorraine)
• Prof. Geoffrey Hellman (University of Minnesota)
• Prof. James Ladyman (University of Bristol)
• Prof. Elaine Landry (UC Davis)
• Prof. Hannes Leitgeb (LMU Munich)
• Dr. Mary Leng (University of York)
• Prof. Øystein Linnebo (University of Oslo)
• Prof. Erich Reck (UC Riverside)

Call for Abstracts

We invite the submission of abstracts on topics related to mathematical structuralism for presentation at the conference. Abstracts should include a title, a brief abstract (up to 100 words), and a full abstract (up to 1000 words), blinded for peer review. Authors should send their abstracts (in pdf format), together with their name, institutional affiliation and current position to mathematicalstructuralism2016@lrz.uni-muenchen.de. We will select up to five submissions for presentation at the conference. The conference language is English.

Dates and Deadlines

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2016
Notification of acceptance: 31 July, 2016
Registration deadline: 1 October, 2016
Conference: 12 – 14 October, 2016

For further details on the conference, please visit: http://www.mathematicalstructuralism2016.philosophie.uni-muenchen.de/

CfA: Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics Annual Meeting

Call for Abstracts

Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics Annual Meeting
University of Calgary, May 29-31, 2016

Special Session: Mathematics and Logic in the 19th and 20th Century

Kenneth May Lecturer: Dr. Jamie Tappenden, Department of Philosophy, University of Michigan

The CSHPM will be holding its 2016 Annual Meeting at the University of Calgary in conjunction with the 2016 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The meeting will be held Sunday through Tuesday, May 29-31, 2016.

Members are invited to present papers on any subject relating to the history of mathematics, its use in the teaching of mathematics, the philosophy of mathematics, or a related topic. Talks in either English or French are welcome.

Please send your title and abstract (200 words or less) in Word or in the body of an email by February 1, 2016 to:

For the Special Session:

Thomas Drucker
Department of Mathematics
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Whitewater, WI 53190-1790
druckert@uww.edu

For the General Session:

Eisso Atzema
Department of Mathematics & Statistics
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
atzema@math.umaine.edu

Case Studies in Mathematical Practice

The 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.