29-30 Mar 2010
Leicester, U.K.
Call for participation Symposium on Mathematical Practice and Cognition 29th - 30th March, 2010, De Montfort University, Leicester http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/apease/aisb10/home.html The belief that what mathematicians think and do is important to the philosophy of mathematics is a relatively recent position, held by, for example, Lakatos (1976, 1978), Davis and Hersh (1980), Kitcher (1983), Tymoczko (1986) and Corfield (2003), and discussed in symposia such as Two Streams in the Philosophy of Mathematics: Rival Conceptions of Mathematical Proof (University of Hertfordshire, 2009). This focus on mathematical practice suggests that research into how mathematical definitions or axioms are motivated, representations changed, problems discovered and explained, analogies formed between different mathematical fields, etc., and how these processes grow out of biologically important competences in dealing effectively with rich and complex environments, is relevant and necessary. This contrasts the traditional focus in philosophy on how mathematics should be done, or the epistemological status of mathematical theorems. The new direction is complemented by recent work in cognitive science on the origin and development of mathematical ideas, for example Lakoff and Nez (2000). Researchers are now working at all lev els to investigate how people, from young babies up to professionals and geniuses are able to perform different mathematical tasks. With the new approach in the philosophy of mathematics, and developments in cognitive science of mathematics and embodied cognition, we feel that the time is ripe for interaction between the fields. We hope to promote a sharing of ideas and enable an atmosphere in which new connections and collaborations are forged. We aim to bring together researchers in different fields, to promote discussion between, for example, people working on the neurological level and those building models of mathematical theory formation, people thinking about aesthetics in mathematics and those focused on visual and diagrammatic reasoning, psychologists of mathematics education, sociologists of mathematics and researchers in embodied cognition, or studying relevant aspects of animal cognition, and biological evolution. Invited speakers: Dr. Brendan Larvor, Principal Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Hertfordshire Professor Ivor Grattan-Guinness, Emeritus Professor of the History of Mathematics and Logic at Middlesex University, and a Visiting Research Associate at the London School of Economics Professor Alexandre Borovik, School of Mathematics, University of Manchester Professor Andrew Aberdein, Department of Humanities and Communication, Florida Institute of Technology See here for programme of talks: http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/apease/aisb10/programme.html Key dates: Early registration - 1st March Symposium - 29th - 30th March, 2010 Programme Committee: Andrew Aberdein, Florida Institute of Technology Alan Bundy, University of Edinburgh Brian Butterworth, University College London John Charnley, Imperial College London Simon Colton, Imperial College London David Corfield, University of Kent Martin Fischer, University of Dundee Markus Guhe, University of Edinburgh Thomas Joyce, University of Edinburgh Brendan Larvor, University of Hertfordshire Benedikt Lwe, Universiteit van Amsterdam Rafael Nez, University of California, San Diego Alison Pease, University of Edinburgh Dirk Schlimm, McGill University Aaron Sloman, University of Birmingham Alan Smaill, University of Edinburgh Alexander Svanevik, University of Edinburgh Pedro Torres, Imperial College London Chairs: Alan Smaill, School of Informatics University of Edinburgh Markus Guhe, School of Informatics University of Edinburgh Alison Pease, School of Informatics University of Edinburgh Symposium details available at: http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/apease/aisb10/home.html We would very much appreciate it if you could forward this email to other interested parties.