VOLUME 6 • 2007
INCEPUTUL UNIVERSULUI SI AL TIMPULUI
ABSTRACT. I argue for four modestly verificationist theses about certain concepts crucial in this area, such as "period" and "instant", and that in consequence of these theses the only coherent account which can be given of the Universe having/not having a beginning is in terms of its existence bein..
LA TEORIA MANIPOLATIVA DELLA CAUSALITÀ E IL PROBLEMA DELLA RETROCAUSAZIONE
ABSTRACT. I show that the assumption of a power or force which connects cause and effect is an essential characteristic of our concept of cause. I present the criteria of the Agency Theory of Causality which I appreciate as correct. I show why this theory assumes the idea of force connecting cause a..
WITTGENSTEIN ON PRIVACY
ABSTRACT. Wittgenstein does not deny private objects; he denies them a role in our language. They are not a something, but not a nothing either. The role they play in language could be just as well done by a nothing as a something. Nor are the things we talk about connected in a contingent manner wi..
THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL MYSTIQUE OF SELF-LOCATING BELIEF
ABSTRACT. What can you infer from observations about your own location in the world? How should you distribute your credence when you are uncertain about which location is yours? This paper uses a series of thought experiment to explore three alternative models for how to reason about when self-loca..
REVISITING THE
ABSTRACT. Although the phrase "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" is widely used, it is not clear what it means. I consider the different views on the nature of mathematics, the diversity of which points to the difficulty in understanding what mathematics really is, a difficulty which adds t..
IS MATHEMATICS DISCOVERED OR INVENTED?
ABSTRACT. The controversy between those who think mathematics is discovered and those who think it is invented may run and run, like many perennial problems of philosophy. Controversies such as those between idealists and realists, and between dogmatists and skeptics, have already lasted more than t..
WITTGENSTEIN, EDUCATION AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS
ABSTRACT. The "new Wittgenstein" coalesces around a series of common interpretive protocols: Wittgenstein is not advancing theories in metaphysics but employing a therapeutic method; he is helping us to work free of the confusions that become evident when we begin to philosophize; at the same time, ..