Colloquium: Sept 29th17
Speaker: Tom Donaldson (Simon Fraser University)
Title: On the Nature of Mathematical Truth (or: truthmaker theory meets easy ontology)
Abstract:
A common theme in the writings of the logical empiricists was that analytic truths are, in some metaphysically important sense, trivial. Hempel expressed the thesis clearly in his paper, “On the Nature of Mathematical Truth”:
[Analytic truths] are true simply by virtue of definitions or of similar stipulations which determine the meaning of the key terms involved.
He added that they “convey no factual information”. Similarly, Ayer claimed that analytic truths are “entirely devoid of factual content”; Hans Hahn claimed that such truths “say nothing about the world”. This idea has since become rather unfashionable, even among those who are happy to accept some distinction between analytic and synthetic truths. I will revisit this unfashionable idea, drawing upon truthmaker theory and Amie Thomasson's work on "Easy Ontology".
Friday, September 29th at 2:30pm CLE A303