Benedikt Loewe

Mercredi 9 mai de 14h à 16h, Philform reçoit Benedikt Loewe : "Empirical Philosophy of Mathematics".

Abstract: Traditional philosophy of mathematics (as traditional philosophy of language) often bases statements about the community of mathematicians (native speakers) on personal introspection or anecdotal evidence. A naturalistic philosophy of mathematics that takes actual mathematical practice seriously will have to base at least some of its basic concepts on empirical truths about the practice of mathematicians. In this talk, we describe the general enterprise of "empirical philosophy of mathematics" and will see two case studies, one on knowledge attributions in mathematics, and a second one on attitudes towards various fragments of the axiom of choice.