Published on
March 25, 2011 in
Events.
Title: Ontological Dependence in Set Theory
Speaker: John Wigglesworth (CUNY)
Date, Time: 29/03/11, 5:15pm
Location: Theatrette 1, Arts West Building (Formerly Economics & Commerce Building). Click here for a map.
Abstract: Some objects depend on others for their existence. I defend the claim that some mathematical objects depend on others for their existence as well. This ontological dependence is perhaps most clear in the case of sets. There is reason to think that a set depends on its members for its existence.
Articulating this claim, however, is surprisingly difficult. It is natural to endorse a modal analysis of this kind of dependence, using a possible worlds interpretation of modality. I show why a straightforward possible worlds analysis fails to capture dependence relations between sets and their members. It fails primarily because there are not enough possible worlds to do the job.
I supplement the possible worlds analysis with impossible worlds. I then use a counterfactual analysis to give truth conditions for the claim that a set ontologically depends on its members.
Published on
March 17, 2011 in
Events.
Two talks this week.
Talk 1
Title: How to Self-Transform
Speaker: Sam Gates-Scovelle
Date, Time: 22/03/11, 5:15pm
Location: Theatrette 1, Arts West Building (Formerly Economics & Commerce Building). Click here for a map.
Abstract: My thesis investigates whether it’s reasonable to intend to self-transform. What is it to self-transform? It is to become a person who, on the basis of psychological criteria for personal identity, is no longer the selfsame person as you because they are radically psychological discontinuous. But — and that’s a “but” coming from Locke, Shoemaker, Parfit and Lewis, psychological continuity theorists all — radical psychological discontinuity is not possible in a normal life! In this seminar, I clarify their objection(s) and reply to them to show how reasonable self-transformation may just be.
Talk 2
Continue reading ‘Philosophy Postgraduate Colloquium – 22/03/11′
Published on
March 14, 2011 in
Events.
Title: Aristotle, Marx, Buddha – Continuity and Contradiction in the Work of Edward Conze
Speaker: Holger Heine
Date, Time: 15/03/11, 5:15pm
Location: Theatrette 1, Arts West Building (Formerly Economics & Commerce Building). Click here for a map.
Abstract: The Anglo-German philosopher Edward Conze (1904-1979) is perhaps best known as a Buddhist scholar and translator of Prajnaparamita texts. Less well known is that he started his academic career in Germany, studying classical Greek and Scholastic philosophy, that he became a Marxist in the late 1920’s and, furthermore, that he actively participated in the militant Communist resistance to the rising tide of Fascism in Germany. After moving to England in 1933, he continued his work as a Marxist writer and theorist for a number of years. However, at the beginning of WWII, Conze – encouraged by the writings of D.T. Suzuki – turned his focus to Buddhist studies, which he continued to pursue for the rest of his life.
Continue reading ‘Philosophy Postgraduate Colloquium – 15/03/11′
Published on
March 8, 2011 in
Events.
Title: Nietzsche, Wagner, and the Meanders of Romanticism
Speaker: Bogdan Dicher
Date, Time: 8/03/11, 5:15pm
Location: Theatrette 1, Arts West Building (Formerly Economics & Commerce Building). Click here for a map.
Abstract: We take a look at the relation between the two coryphaei of German culture, within the broader picture of German Romanticism. We will attempt to connect both what brought them together and what later divided them with particular developments in the Romantic movement. Finally, we will address the question of whether Nietzsche’s brutal criticism of Wagner can be seen as marking the exhaustion of the expressive resources of Romanticism.