19-21 October 2012
Gothenburg, Sweden
Conference "Numbers and truth - the philosophy and mathematics of
arithmetic and truth?"
Gothenburg, Sweden, October 19-21, 2012
We are pleased to announce that the conference ?Numbers and truth - the
philosophy and mathematics of arithmetic and truth? (
http://www.numbersandtruth.org/ ) will be held at the University of
Gothenburg, Sweden, on October 19-21, 2012. Its main objective is to
permit an exchange of ideas between truth theorists, philosophers and
mathematicians interested in the foundations of mathematics. It will give
the researchers an opportunity both to present technical results and to
diagnose their philosophical significance.
General description
Natural numbers belong to the most commonly known mathematical entities
and are studied and discussed from various angles. Philosophers,
mathematicians, cognitive scientists, computer scientists among others
conduct research having for its aim a deeper understanding of these
objects. The present conference ?Numbers and truth? will contribute to
these efforts and bring together researchers and traditions from all these
areas to construct common ground for new research. Within recent
philosophy of mathematics a couple of competitive philosophical schools
came to the foreground; importantly, structuralism and neo-Fregeanism.
Both of them espouse realism about mathematical objects: these objects
exist independently of our minds. In addition, both espouse realism about
truth: arithmetical sentences have objective truth values. In this context
a natural question arises whether theories of arithmetical truth provide
us a better understanding of what is true of natural numbers, and in
consequence, of what natural numbers are. What is the relation between a
choice of a particular conception of arithmetical truth and one?s overall
standpoint in the philosophy of mathematics, or maybe even one?s preferred
way of doing mathematics? On a general level, the aim of the conference is
to address issues of this sort. This will be achieved by bringing together
both the acknowledged experts and outstanding younger researchers, in
order to facilitate discussion between philosophers of mathematics, truth
theorists and mathematicians.
The conference will contain 10 invited and 4 contributed talks.
The invited speakers who have confirmed their participation are (in
alphabetic order):
* Martin Fischer (Munich)
* Volker Halbach (Oxford)
* Leon Horsten (Bristol)
* Richard Kaye (Birmingham)
* Juliette Kennedy (Helsinki)
* Roman Kossak (New York)
* Rafa? Urbaniak (Ghent)
* Sean Walsh (London/Irvine)
* Konrad Zdanowski (Warsaw)
Submissions Details
We invite submissions presenting novel contributions to the area of
philosophy of mathematics, arithmetic together with its meta-mathematics
and model theory, and formal theory of truth. Both philosophical and
technical submissions are welcome; especially ones contributing to the
discussion of how truth in mathematics should be properly explained.
Extended abstracts of 3-4 pages should be emailed as attached pdf files to
the address organizers@numbersandtruth.org . Abstracts for submission
should be prepared for double-blind reviewing, please remove names and
affiliations, and any other identifying material. Contact details should
be given separately. Presentations should not exceed 45 minutes, including
discussion time. The deadline for submitting extended abstracts is August
1, 2012.
The organizers will cover the cost of accommodation and dinners for all
contributed speakers.
Important Dates:
Submission deadline: August 1, 2012
Notification of acceptance: August 31, 2012
Conference: October 19-21, 2012
Contact: organizers@numbersandtruth.org
Conference Website: http://www.numbersandtruth.org/
Organizers: Fredrik Engström (Gothenburg), Cezary Cie?li?ski (Warsaw), and
Paula Quinon (Lund)
Sponsors: Wenner-Gren Foundations and the Department of Philosophy,
Linguistics and Theory of Science, University of Gothenburg.