8-9 Nov 2008
Notre Dame, U.S.A.
Dear Friends and Colleagues, The ninth annual Midwest PhilMath Workshop (MWPMW 9) will be held at Notre Dame the weekend of Saturday, November 8th and Sunday, November 9th, 2008. There will be a full day of talks and discussions Saturday and a half day Sunday. As usual, there will be a workshop dinner Saturday evening, Nov 8th, with all participants invited to attend as guests of the university. We are pleased to announce that Prof. Edward Nelson, Dept. of Mathematics, Princeton University, has agreed to join us and to give a lecture entitled "The truth about numbers" on the first day of the workshop. Prof. Douglas Jesseph, Dept. of Philosophy, University of South Florida will also be joining us and giving a lecture entitled "The "Merely Mechanical" vs. the "Scab of Symbols": Seventeenth Century Disputes over the Criteria of Mathematical Rigor". If you would like to give a talk, please email me (mdetlef1@nd.edu) a pdf of your talk or abstract with copies to Paddy (blanchette.1@nd.edu), Tim (bays.5@nd.edu) and Curtis (cfranks@nd.edu). We would like to have all proposals for talks by early September so that we can set the program by late September. Talks should be 35--40 minutes, with 15--20 minutes left for discussion. We're fortunate to have Mrs. Harriet Baldwin (baldwin.1@nd.edu) as the workshop manager once again this year. Please contact her with any questions you have concerning rooms, meals, etc.. She has booked a block of rooms for the workshop. Since there are other conferences going on the same weekend, demand for rooms may be high and it would thus be a good idea to reserve a room with Harriet as soon as possible. Please also indicate to her whether you will be joining us for lunch and/or dinner on Saturday, and let her know if you have any special dietary needs. She can also point you to pertinent travel information, maps, etc.. Finally, she's the person you should contact to apply for the limited funds we have available to help defray expenses for student participants coming from out of town whose departments cannot cover their costs. These funds will generally take the form of subventions for lodging. To apply please email Mrs. Baldwin as soon as possible. Please also have an appropriate faculty member from your department email me (mdetlef1@nd.edu) to confirm that it cannot meet your expenses. The full program for the workshop will be published on the workshop website once it is set. We look forward to seeing you at the workshop. Cordially, Mic Detlefsen