DOCSLIB.ORG

130 Years Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-2019)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
130 Years Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-2019) Center for Open Access in Science, Belgrade 130 years Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-2019) Conference Proceedings Kamen Lozev & Marina Bakalova (Eds.) Belgrade, 2020 1 SOUTH WEST UHIYERSITY HEOFIT RILSKI 130 years Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-2019) Conference Proceedings © Kamen Lozev & Marina Bakalova (Eds.) E-Book Publisher: Center for Open Access in Science, Belgrade, Serbia www.centerprode.com * [email protected] ISBN (Online) 978-86-81294-04-8 DOI: 10.32591/coas.e-book.001 2 The Last Language-game Dimitar Elchinov ............................................................................... 95 CONTENTS Reasonable Doubt: Editors’ note .............................................................................. 5 Does It Need Its Own Justification? Anna M. Ivanova ............................................................................. 106 CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS FROM THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY SOFIA III. AESTHETICS Mr. Konstantin Saupe .......................................................................... 7 Wittgenstein on übersichtliche Darstellung I. LOGIC and Gaining Clarity Ognian Kassabov ............................................................................. 121 “Logic isn’t as simple as logicians think it is”: Wittgenstein on Moore’s Paradox Beyond Wittgenstein’s Musical Formalism and the Logic of Assertion Marina Bakalova ............................................................................. 132 Jonas Held ......................................................................................... 11 IV. ETHICS AND WAY OF LIFE The Relation between Logic and Mathematics: A Comparison of the Views in Tractatus The Transcedentality of Wittgenstein’s Ethics with Frege and Russell’s views Neşe Aksoy ...................................................................................... 149 Evgeni Latinov Latinov ..................................................................... 35 Wittgenstein’s Therapeutic Aim Reconsidered Wittgenstein, Metalogic and Meaning Christopher Hoyt ............................................................................. 171 Marco Marchesin ............................................................................... 46 Tolstoy’s Religious Influence on Young Wittgenstein II. SEMANTICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY Kamen Lozev .................................................................................. 185 The Composition of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus: An Interpretative Study Nikolay Milkov ................................................................................. 67 Тhe semantic ontology in Wittgenstein’s philosophy Denitsa Zhelyazkova ......................................................................... 88 3 4 The Last Language-game Dimitar Elchinov ............................................................................... 95 CONTENTS Reasonable Doubt: Editors’ note .............................................................................. 5 Does It Need Its Own Justification? Anna M. Ivanova ............................................................................. 106 CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS FROM THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY SOFIA III. AESTHETICS Mr. Konstantin Saupe .......................................................................... 7 Wittgenstein on übersichtliche Darstellung I. LOGIC and Gaining Clarity Ognian Kassabov ............................................................................. 121 “Logic isn’t as simple as logicians think it is”: Wittgenstein on Moore’s Paradox Beyond Wittgenstein’s Musical Formalism and the Logic of Assertion Marina Bakalova ............................................................................. 132 Jonas Held ......................................................................................... 11 IV. ETHICS AND WAY OF LIFE The Relation between Logic and Mathematics: A Comparison of the Views in Tractatus The Transcedentality of Wittgenstein’s Ethics with Frege and Russell’s views Neşe Aksoy ...................................................................................... 149 Evgeni Latinov Latinov ..................................................................... 35 Wittgenstein’s Therapeutic Aim Reconsidered Wittgenstein, Metalogic and Meaning Christopher Hoyt ............................................................................. 171 Marco Marchesin ............................................................................... 46 Tolstoy’s Religious Influence on Young Wittgenstein II. SEMANTICS AND EPISTEMOLOGY Kamen Lozev .................................................................................. 185 The Composition of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus: An Interpretative Study Nikolay Milkov ................................................................................. 67 Тhe semantic ontology in Wittgenstein’s philosophy Denitsa Zhelyazkova ......................................................................... 88 3 4 Editors’ note This collection of papers under the title 130 YEARS LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889-2019) comes out as a result of a conference held on 16-17 October 2019 under the same title to celebrate the Anniversary of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s birth. It can hardly be doubted that Wittgenstein was one of the emblematic (and for many the most enigmatic) figure of the Twentieth century. As time passes by, and as more and more Wittgenstein’s anniversaries are celebrated, it becomes clearer that Wittgenstein’s influence covers more fields than simply philosophy. More and more people today turn to Wittgenstein and investigate his works in search for inspiration or deep insights. The two-day conference in Sofia which gave birth to this collection of papers was held under the auspices of the Austrian Embassy in Sofia. We are very thankful for their generous financial support that made the event possible. The Conference was organized by the Bulgarian Society for Analytic Philosophy (BSAP) assisted by the Philosophical Departments of the Sofia University and the South-West University ‘Neofit Rilski’ in Blagoevgrad. Our special thanks go to the BAS members, working at the Sofia University, who arranged for the excellent facilities we enjoyed within the two conference days full of exciting discussions on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy. Last but not least, our thanks go to all Conference participants and speakers from twelve different countries who decided to come to Bulgaria on this special occasion. Some of them contributed to this collection of papers. Kamen Lozev & Marina Bakalova, March 2020 5 6 Editors’ note This collection of papers under the title 130 YEARS LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889-2019) comes out as a result of a conference held on 16-17 October 2019 under the same title to celebrate the Anniversary of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s birth. It can hardly be doubted that Wittgenstein was one of the emblematic (and for many the most enigmatic) figure of the Twentieth century. As time passes by, and as more and more Wittgenstein’s anniversaries are celebrated, it becomes clearer that Wittgenstein’s influence covers more fields than simply philosophy. More and more people today turn to Wittgenstein and investigate his works in search for inspiration or deep insights. The two-day conference in Sofia which gave birth to this collection of papers was held under the auspices of the Austrian Embassy in Sofia. We are very thankful for their generous financial support that made the event possible. The Conference was organized by the Bulgarian Society for Analytic Philosophy (BSAP) assisted by the Philosophical Departments of the Sofia University and the South-West University ‘Neofit Rilski’ in Blagoevgrad. Our special thanks go to the BAS members, working at the Sofia University, who arranged for the excellent facilities we enjoyed within the two conference days full of exciting discussions on Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy. Last but not least, our thanks go to all Conference participants and speakers from twelve different countries who decided to come to Bulgaria on this special occasion. Some of them contributed to this collection of papers. Kamen Lozev & Marina Bakalova, March 2020 5 6 lifetime. How would look like his career nowadays at a modern university? Would it be possible at all, with only one book? But as CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS Wittgenstein wrote : „Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber FROM THE AUSTRIAN EMBASSY SOFIA muss man schweigen.“ Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” Mr. Konstantin Saupe There is no doubt that Vienna, with its cultural traditions and Deputy Head of Mission achievements, was one of the roots and an important inspiration for Wittgenstein. As we know the Wittgenstein family was large The Austrian Embassy, and myself, have gladly accepted to and wealthy. The Wittgensteins’ home attracted people of culture, support and participate in this event dedicated to the celebration especially musicians, including the composer Johannes Brahms, of the 130th anniversary of Ludwig Wittgenstein, especially who was a friend of the family. when viewed in а broader cultural context (which, as far as I Ludwig Wittgenstein, of course, belongs to European and understand, is present in some of the referats of this conference). world philosophy and culture and cultural heritage. And here we The Austrian Embassy supported already another Wittgenstein should of course mention a special link between Wittgenstein and conference 15 years ago - we find such scientific and educational Bulgaria, the House Wittgenstein in Vienna - the villa designed projects particularly important, because whenever
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Nominalism, Trivialism, Logicism
    Nominalism, Trivialism, Logicism Agustín Rayo∗ May 1, 2014 This paper is an effort to extract some of the main theses in the philosophy of mathematics from my book, The Construction of Logical Space. I show that there are important limits to the availability of nominalistic paraphrase-functions for mathematical languages, and sug- gest a way around the problem by developing a method for specifying nominalistic contents without corresponding nominalistic paraphrases. Although much of the material in this paper is drawn from the book—and from an earlier paper (Rayo 2008)—I hope the present discussion will earn its keep by motivating the ideas in a new way, and by suggesting further applications. 1 Nominalism Mathematical Nominalism is the view that there are no mathematical objets. A standard problem for nominalists is that it is not obvious that they can explain what the point of a mathematical assertion would be. For it is natural to think that mathematical sentences like ‘the number of the dinosaurs is zero’ or ‘1 + 1 = 2’ can only be true if mathematical objects exist. But if this is right, the nominalist is committed to the view that such sentences are untrue. And if the sentences are untrue, it not immediately obvious why they would be worth asserting. ∗For their many helpful comments, I am indebted to Vann McGee, Kevin Richardson, Bernhard Salow and two anonymous referees for Philosophia Mathematica. I would also like to thank audiences at Smith College, the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, and MIT’s Logic, Langauge, Metaphysics and Mind Reading Group. Most of all, I would like to thank Steve Yablo.
    [Show full text]
  • Biography Paper – Georg Cantor
    Mike Garkie Math 4010 – History of Math UCD Denver 4/1/08 Biography Paper – Georg Cantor Few mathematicians are house-hold names; perhaps only Newton and Euclid would qualify. But there is a second tier of mathematicians, those whose names might not be familiar, but whose discoveries are part of everyday math. Examples here are Napier with logarithms, Cauchy with limits and Georg Cantor (1845 – 1918) with sets. In fact, those who superficially familier with Georg Cantor probably have two impressions of the man: First, as a consequence of thinking about sets, Cantor developed a theory of the actual infinite. And second, that Cantor was a troubled genius, crippled by Freudian conflict and mental illness. The first impression is fundamentally true. Cantor almost single-handedly overturned the Aristotle’s concept of the potential infinite by developing the concept of transfinite numbers. And, even though Bolzano and Frege made significant contributions, “Set theory … is the creation of one person, Georg Cantor.” [4] The second impression is mostly false. Cantor certainly did suffer from mental illness later in his life, but the other emotional baggage assigned to him is mostly due his early biographers, particularly the infamous E.T. Bell in Men Of Mathematics [7]. In the racially charged atmosphere of 1930’s Europe, the sensational story mathematician who turned the idea of infinity on its head and went crazy in the process, probably make for good reading. The drama of the controversy over Cantor’s ideas only added spice. 1 Fortunately, modern scholars have corrected the errors and biases in older biographies.
    [Show full text]
  • 2. Aristotle's Concept of the State
    Page No.13 2. Aristotle's concept of the state Olivera Z. Mijuskovic Full Member International Association of Greek Philosophy University of Athens, Greece ORCID iD: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5950-7146 URL: http://worldphilosophynetwork.weebly.com E-Mail: [email protected] Abstract: In contrast to a little bit utopian standpoint offered by Plato in his teachings about the state or politeia where rulers aren`t “in love with power but in virtue”, Aristotle's teaching on the same subject seems very realistic and pragmatic. In his most important writing in this field called "Politics", Aristotle classified authority in the form of two main parts: the correct authority and moose authority. In this sense, correct forms of government are 1.basileus, 2.aristocracy and 3.politeia. These forms of government are based on the common good. Bad or moose forms of government are those that are based on the property of an individual or small governmental structures and they are: 1.tiranny, 2.oligarchy and 3.democracy. Also, Aristotle's political thinking is not separate from the ethical principles so he states that the government should be reflected in the true virtue that is "law" or the "golden mean". Keywords: Government; stat; , virtue; democracy; authority; politeia; golden mean. Vol. 4 No. 4 (2016) Issue- December ISSN 2347-6869 (E) & ISSN 2347-2146 (P) Aristotle's concept of the state by Olivera Z. Mijuskovic Page no. 13-20 Page No.14 Aristotle's concept of the state 1.1. Aristotle`s “Politics” Politics in its defined form becomes affirmed by the ancient Greek world.
    [Show full text]
  • BY PLATO• ARISTOTLE • .AND AQUINAS I
    i / REF1,l!;CTit.>NS ON ECONOMIC PROBLEMS / BY PLATO• ARISTOTLE • .AND AQUINAS ii ~FLECTIONS ON ECONO:MIC PROBLEMS 1 BY PLA'I'O, ARISTOTLE, JJJD AQUINAS, By EUGENE LAIDIBEL ,,SWEARINGEN Bachelor of Science Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Collage Stillwater, Oklahoma 1941 Submitted to the Depertmeut of Economics Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 1948 iii f.. 'I. I ···· i·: ,\ H.: :. :· ··: ! • • ~ ' , ~ • • !·:.· : i_ ·, 1r 1i1. cr~~rJ3t L l: i{ ,\ I~ Y , '•T •)() 1 0 ,1 8 API-'HOV~D BY: .J ,.· 1.., J l.;"t .. ---- -··- - ·- ______.,.. I 7 -.. JI J ~ L / \ l v·~~ u ' ~) (;_,LA { 7 {- ' r ~ (\.7 __\ _. ...A'_ ..;f_ ../-_" ...._!)_.... ..." ___ ......._ ·;...;;; ··-----/ 1--.,i-----' ~-.._.._ :_..(__,,---- ....... Member of the Report Committee 1..j lj:,;7 (\ - . "'·- -· _ .,. ·--'--C. r, .~-}, .~- Q_ · -~ Q.- 1Head of the Department . · ~ Dean of the Graduate School 502 04 0 .~ -,. iv . r l Preface The purpose and plan of this report are set out in the Introduction. Here, I only wish to express my gratitude to Professor Russell H. Baugh who has helped me greatly in the preparation of this report by discussing the various subjects as they were in the process of being prepared. I am very much indebted to Dr. Harold D. Hantz for his commentaries on the report and for the inspiration which his classes in Philosophy have furnished me as I attempted to correlate some of the material found in these two fields, Ecor!.Omics and Philosophy. I should like also to acknowledge that I owe my first introduction into the relationships of Economics and Philosophy to Dean Raymond Thomas, and his com~ents on this report have been of great value.
    [Show full text]
  • Editorial Introduction to 'Truth: Concept Meets Property'
    Synthese (2021) 198 (Suppl 2):S591–S603 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-020-02711-2 S.I. : TRUTH: CONCEPT MEETS PROPERTY Editorial introduction to ‘truth: concept meets property’ Jeremy Wyatt1 Published online: 25 May 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020 1 Concepts versus properties The papers in this special issue investigate a range of topics that pertain to the dis- tinction between the concept and the property of truth. The distinction between property concepts and the properties that they pick out is a mainstay within analytic philosophy. We have learned to distinguish, for instance, between our ordinary con- 1 cept SIMULTANEOUS and the property simultaneity that it picks out. The signifcance of this distinction is borne out in the theories of reference that were developed, for instance, by Putnam (1975), Kripke (1980), and Lewis (1984). If we apply any of these theories to SIMULTANEOUS, they will generate the result that this concept refers to the relativized property simultaneity, even if many users of the concept take sim- ultaneity to be absolute. 2 The concept–property distinction in truth theory: Alston’s constraint Undoubtedly, then, it is important to draw the general distinction between property concepts and properties themselves. What, though, is this meant to show us about truth? Arguably, the locus classicus for thought on this topic is the work of William Alston, who observes of the concept-property distinction that “discussions of truth are led seriously astray by neglecting it.”2 Alston brings out the relevance of the dis- tinction to theories of truth as follows3: 1 In what follows, I’ll use small caps to denote concepts and italics to denote properties (and for empha- sis).
    [Show full text]
  • Aristotle's Economic Defence of Private Property
    ECONOMIC HISTORY ARISTOTLE ’S ECONOMIC DEFENCE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY CONOR MCGLYNN Senior Sophister Are modern economic justifications of private property compatible with Aristotle’s views? Conor McGlynn deftly argues that despite differences, there is much common ground between Aristotle’s account and contemporary economic conceptions of private property. The paper explores the concepts of natural exchange and the tragedy of the commons in order to reconcile these divergent views. Introduction Property rights play a fundamental role in the structure of any economy. One of the first comprehensive defences of the private ownership of property was given by Aristotle. Aris - totle’s defence of private property rights, based on the role private property plays in pro - moting virtue, is often seen as incompatible with contemporary economic justifications of property, which are instead based on mostly utilitarian concerns dealing with efficiency. Aristotle defends private ownership only insofar as it plays a role in promoting virtue, while modern defenders appeal ultimately to the efficiency gains from private property. However, in spite of these fundamentally divergent views, there are a number of similar - ities between the defence of private property Aristotle gives and the account of private property provided by contemporary economics. I will argue that there is in fact a great deal of overlap between Aristotle’s account and the economic justification. While it is true that Aristotle’s theory is quite incompatible with a free market libertarian account of pri - vate property which defends the absolute and inalienable right of an individual to their property, his account is compatible with more moderate political and economic theories of private property.
    [Show full text]
  • Howard J. Garber Letter Collection This Collection Was the Gift of Howard J
    Howard J. Garber Letter Collection This collection was the gift of Howard J. Garber to Case Western Reserve University from 1979 to 1993. Dr. Howard Garber, who donated the materials in the Howard J. Garber Manuscript Collection, is a former Clevelander and alumnus of Case Western Reserve University. Between 1979 and 1993, Dr. Garber donated over 2,000 autograph letters, documents and books to the Department of Special Collections. Dr. Garber's interest in history, particularly British royalty led to his affinity for collecting manuscripts. The collection focuses primarily on political, historical and literary figures in Great Britain and includes signatures of all the Prime Ministers and First Lords of the Treasury. Many interesting items can be found in the collection, including letters from Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning Thomas Hardy, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, King George III, and Virginia Woolf. Descriptions of the Garber Collection books containing autographs and tipped-in letters can be found in the online catalog. Box 1 [oversize location noted in description] Abbott, Charles (1762-1832) English Jurist. • ALS, 1 p., n.d., n.p., to ? A'Beckett, Gilbert A. (1811-1856) Comic Writer. • ALS, 3p., April 7, 1848, Mount Temple, to Morris Barnett. Abercrombie, Lascelles. (1881-1938) Poet and Literary Critic. • A.L.S., 1 p., March 5, n.y., Sheffield, to M----? & Hughes. Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon (1784-1860) British Prime Minister. • ALS, 1 p., June 8, 1827, n.p., to Augustous John Fischer. • ANS, 1 p., August 9, 1839, n.p., to Mr. Wright. • ALS, 1 p., January 10, 1853, London, to Cosmos Innes.
    [Show full text]
  • Two Problems for Resemblance Nominalism
    Two Problems for Resemblance Nominalism Andrea C. Bottani, Università di Bergamo [email protected] I. Nominalisms Just as ‘being’ according to Aristotle, ‘nominalism’ can be said in many ways, being currently used to refer to a number of non equivalent theses, each denying the existence of entities of a certain sort. In a Quinean largely shared sense, nominalism is the thesis that abstract entities do not exist. In other senses, some of which also are broadly shared, nominalism is the thesis that universals do not exist; the thesis that neither universals nor tropes exist; the thesis that properties do not exist. These theses seem to be independent, at least to some degree: some ontologies incorporate all of them, some none, some just one and some more than one but not all. This makes the taxonomy of nominalisms very complex. Armstrong 1978 distinguishes six varieties of nominalism according to which neither universals nor tropes exist, called respectively ‘ostrich nominalism’, ‘predicate nominalism’, ‘concept nominalism’, ‘mereological nominalism’, ‘class nominalism’ and ‘resemblance nominalism’, which Armstrong criticizes but considers superior to any other version. According to resemblance nominalism, properties depend on primitive resemblance relations among particulars, while there are neither universals nor tropes. Rodriguez-Pereyra 2002 contains a systematic formulation and defence of a version of resemblance nominalism according to which properties exist, conceived of as maximal classes of exactly resembling particulars. An exact resemblance is one that two particulars can bear to each other just in case there is some ‘lowest determinate’ property - for example, being of an absolutely precise nuance of red – that both have just in virtue of precisely resembling certain particulars (so that chromatic resemblance can only be chromatic indiscernibility).
    [Show full text]
  • Opposition a Linguistic and Psychological Analysis
    Theoretical Backup Two for the Lexicon of Finnegans Wake: Volume Fifty-Six C. K. Ogden The only professional British linguist who succeeded to provide a recording of the voice of James Joyce, and the very first translator of Ludwig Wittgenstein into English. Opposition A Linguistic and Psychological Analysis. Edited by C. George Sandulescu Recommended Reading: C. K. Ogden: The Meaning of Meaning C. K. Ogden: Opposition C. K. Ogden: Basic English Bucureşti 2013 This “theoretical insert”, Volume 55, Volume 56, and Volume 57, is dedicated to Professor CARLA MARENGO— a most remarkable teacher of English Literature, and thorough researcher of Joyce. Monte Carlo, Noël 2013 George Sandulescu The Turin Shroud Press Release Noël 2013 Theoretical Backup for the Lexicon of Finnegans Wake Edited by C. George Sandulescu Charles Ogden (1889-1957) was Charles Ogden (1889-1957) este a linguist and a language philosopher: cunoscut ca lingvist şi filosof al to him the word was as real as any other limbajului: cuvântul, pentru el, era o object in his hands. He demonstrated realitate concretă. Acest lucru l-a this by recording the very voice of demonstrat atunci când a înregistrat pe James Joyce himself. The reading was disc vocea lui James Joyce însuşi. made in August 1929 at King’s College, Înregistrarea a fost făcută în august London. By mentioning the year of that 1929 la King’s College, Londra. Tot în recording, we inevitably notice that the primul sfert al secolului XX s-au mai first quarter of the twentieth century petrecut o sumă de evenimente grouped together quite a number of importante.
    [Show full text]
  • Our Conceptual Understanding of a Phenomenon, While the Logic of Induction Adds Quantitative Details to the Conceptual Knowledge
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 376 173 TM 021 982 AUTHOR Ho, Yu Chong TITLE Abduction? Deduction? Induction? Is There a Logic of Exploratory Data Analysis? PUB DATE Apr 94 NOTE 28p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New Orleans, LA, April 4-8, 1994). PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) Speeches/Conference Papers (150) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Comprehension; *Deduction; Hypothesis Testing; *Induction; *Logic IDENTIFIERS *Abductive Reasoning; *Exploratory Data Analysis; Peirce (Charles S) ABSTRACT The philosophical notions introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) are helpfu: for researchers in understanding the nature of knowledge and reality. In the Peircean logical system, the logic of abduction and deduction contribute to our conceptual understanding of a phenomenon, while the logic of induction adds quantitative details to the conceptual knowledge. Although Peirce justified the validity of induction as a self-corrective process, he asserted that neither induction nor deduction can help us to unveil the internal structure of meaning. As exploratory data analysis performs the function of a model builder for confirmatory data analysis, abduction plays the role of explorer of viable paths to further inquiry. Thus, the logic of abduction fits well into exploratory data analysis. At the stage of abduction, the goal is to explore the data, find out a pattern, and suggest a plausible hypothesis; deduction is to refine the hypothesis based upon other plausible premises; and induction is the empirical substantiation. (Contains 55 references.) (Author) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. is *********************************************************************** Abduction? Deduction? Induction? Is there a Logic of Exploratory Data Analysis? Yu Chong Ho University of Oklahoma Internet: [email protected] April 4, 1994 U S.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Survey of Some Recent Philosophical Research in China
    Philosophia DOI 10.1007/s11406-016-9768-x A Critical Survey of Some Recent Philosophical Research in China Xingming Hu1 Received: 12 January 2016 /Revised: 23 March 2016 /Accepted: 16 September 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016 Abstract In this paper, I survey some recent literature produced by the established Chinese philosophers who regularly publish in Chinese philosophy journals and work in Mainland China. Specifically, I review the recent research of these philosophers in two areas: Chinese Philosophy and epistemology. In each area, I focus on two topics that have caught the attention of a lot of Chinese philosophers. I argue that the Chinese philosophers’ research on these topics has two prevalent problems: (i) a lot of argu- ments they make are weak; (ii) they tend not to critically engage with others. I discuss a metaphilosophical objection that weak argumentation and disengagement are not vices of philosophical research. I also try to make sense of (i) and (ii) in terms of some cultural factors. Keywords The goal of philosophy. Chinese philosophy. The legitimacy problem . Confucian ethics . Epistemology . The Gettier Problem . External World Skepticism 1 Introduction How has the philosophical research been done in Mainland China? In this paper, I survey some recent literature produced by the established Chinese philosophers who regularly publish in Chinese philosophy journals and work in Mainland China. Specifically, I review the recent research of these philoso- phers in two areas: Chinese Philosophy and epistemology. In each area, I focus on two topics that have caught the attention of a lot of Chinese philosophers. I argue that the Chinese philosophers’ research on these topics has some preva- lent problems, which might be explained in terms of some metaphilosophical commitments and cultural factors.
    [Show full text]
  • Explanations
    © Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. CHAPTER 1 Explanations 1.1 SALLIES Language is an instrument of Logic, but not an indispensable instrument. Boole 1847a, 118 We know that mathematicians care no more for logic than logicians for mathematics. The two eyes of exact science are mathematics and logic; the mathematical sect puts out the logical eye, the logical sect puts out the mathematical eye; each believing that it sees better with one eye than with two. De Morgan 1868a,71 That which is provable, ought not to be believed in science without proof. Dedekind 1888a, preface If I compare arithmetic with a tree that unfolds upwards in a multitude of techniques and theorems whilst the root drives into the depthswx . Frege 1893a, xiii Arithmetic must be discovered in just the same sense in which Columbus discovered the West Indies, and we no more create numbers than he created the Indians. Russell 1903a, 451 1.2 SCOPE AND LIMITS OF THE BOOK 1.2.1 An outline history. The story told here from §3 onwards is re- garded as well known. It begins with the emergence of set theory in the 1870s under the inspiration of Georg Cantor, and the contemporary development of mathematical logic by Gottlob Frege andŽ. especially Giuseppe Peano. A cumulation of these and some related movements was achieved in the 1900s with the philosophy of mathematics proposed by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell.
    [Show full text]