NOL Seminar with Øystein Linnebo
published: 2022-05-10
event date:
2022-05-30
The Nordic Online Logic Seminar is organised monthly over Zoom, with expository talks on topics of interest for the broader logic community. The seminar is open for professional or aspiring logicians and logic aficionados worldwide. If you wish to receive the Zoom ID and password for it, as well as further announcements, please subscribe here: https://listserv.gu.se/sympa/subscribe/nordiclogic.
Next talk: Monday, May 30, 16.00-17.30 CEST (UTC+2), on Zoom (details are provided to the seminar subscribers)
Title: Potentialism in the philosophy and foundations of mathematics
Speaker: Øystein Linnebo, Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, University of Oslo
Abstract:
Aristotle famously claimed that the only coherent form of infinity is potential,
not actual. However many objects there are, it is possible for there to be yet
more; but it is impossible for there in fact to be infinitely many objects.
Although this view was superseded by Cantor’s transfinite set theory, even
Cantor regarded the collection of all sets as “unfinished” or incapable of
“being together”. In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in
potentialist approaches to the philosophy and foundations of mathematics. The
lecture provides a survey of such approaches, covering both technical results
and associated philosophical views, as these emerge both in published work and
in work in progress.