------ LAST PG WIP FOR THIS YEAR ------ USyd Philosophy Postgraduate Work-in-Progress Seminar
Raphael Chan, 'The Access Problem and its Solutions' Monday, November 7, 3:30-5:00pm, Main Quad, Philosophy Common Room (University of Sydney) ABSTRACT: Paul Benacerraf (1973) has two concerns for accounts of mathematical truth, where one is a metaphysical concern, that mathematical language can be taken at face value, and the other is an epistemological concern, that there is an epistemology of mathematics. As platonists believe mathematical objects are abstract and we are not causally connected to them. It seems that there is no platonist epistemology of mathematics. This epistemological problem is known as the access problem. I consider Mark Steiner’s (1975) response that attacks the causal theory of knowledge, W. D. Hart’s (1977) reply to Steiner and Hartry Field (1989) new formulation of the problem. A solution to Field’s version of the problem takes the particular view of Full-blooded platonism “FBP”, which postulates the existence of all possible mathematical objects. I will explain why even if it appears that the FBP solution can solves the access problem, FBP cannot meet both concerns of Benacerraf. Everyone is welcome to attend. If you would like to present or require further information, please contact Nick Malpas at [email protected]. The format is 30 minutes for presentations followed by 1 hour of discussion. Since the primary aim of this seminar is to generate discussion, presentations need not be particularly polished or formal.
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