logic

Episode 134: Hegel on Thought & World (or “Logic”)

February 29, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 11 Comments

On G.F.W. Hegel’s The Science of Logic (1812–1816), §1–§129 and The Encyclopaedia Logic (1817) §1–§25. “Logic” for Hegel isn’t about symbolic logic; it’s about how thought interacts with the world. Our thoughts about fundamental metaphysical categories bear the same relations to each other as the the categories themselves do. Just take Hegel’s many, many words for it! With guest Amogh Sahu.

End song: “Procrastination” by Steve Petrinko from The MayTricks’ Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994). Hear Mark interview Steve on Nakedly Examined Music.

Episode 134: Hegel on Thought & World (or “Logic”) (Citizen Edition)

February 28, 2016 by Mark Linsenmayer 3 Comments

End song: “Procrastination” by Steve Petrinko from The MayTricks’ Happy Songs Will Bring You Down (1994). Hear Mark interview Steve on Nakedly Examined Music.

From Technologist to Humanist: Google’s “In-House” Philosopher

July 24, 2011 by Tom McDonald 5 Comments

I had been thinking about the PEL debate on the value of higher education, and came across this compelling story by Damon Horowitz. Did you know that Google has an “in-house philosopher”? Horowitz shares his personal story of self-transformation in this article for the Chronicle of Higher Education. With a background in software engineering, he had developed a career in Continue Reading …

Bertrand Russell’s Very Short Introduction to His Ontology

June 1, 2011 by Daniel Horne 10 Comments

Watch in YouTube For those who can’t get enough Bertrand Russell, here’s an introduction to logical analysis from his History of Western Philosophy. In this concluding chapter, Russell explains his own philosophy, as inspired by Frege, so even critics of Russell-as-historian shouldn’t object. I was particularly taken with Russell’s ontology, via Einstein. Russell succinctly and I think fairly summarizes a Continue Reading …

Topic for #38: Russell on Math and Logic

April 14, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 14 Comments

What is a number? Is it some Platonic entity floating outside of space and time that we somehow come into communion with? We’ll be following up our foray into analytical philosophy with Frege with some Bertrand Russell: specifically his Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (1919), which is the much shortened, non-technical version of his famous Principia Mathematica(written with Whitehead). Frege and Continue Reading …

Yet More on Logic: Quantification

March 26, 2011 by Seth Paskin 11 Comments

Against both my better judgment and the hue and cry of many, I will continue my semi-informed-by-past-years-of-studying “exposition” of predicate logic which I started here. If I accomplish nothing else, I will give Burl something to complain about for the next week or so. In the previous installment, we talked about how syllogistic statements about “all x’s” assert the truth Continue Reading …

Logicomix!

March 23, 2011 by Daniel Horne 3 Comments

In the recent Frege episode, Mark related the famous anecdote of how Bertrand Russell, the man who “discovered” Frege, later confounded him by pointing out a paradox apparent within his logical system. As Wes recounted, Russell’s own attempt to ground mathematics in logic was also later frustrated by a young Kurt Gödel, whose early incompleteness theorems crippled the central purpose of Principia Continue Reading …

Logic: A Quick Remedial Lesson

March 16, 2011 by Matt Teichman 7 Comments

Episode 34: Frege on the Logic of Language (Citizens Only)

March 13, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 1 Comment

Discussing Gottlob Frege’s “Sense and Reference,” “Concept and Object” (both from 1892) and “The Thought” (1918).

What is it about sentences that make them true or false? Frege, the father of analytic philosophy who invented modern symbolic logic, attempted to codify language in a way that would make this obvious, which would ground mathematics and science. Applying his symbolic system to natural language forced him to invent strange entities like “thoughts” and “senses” that are neither physical nor psychological, and we pretty much spend this episode kvetching about the metaphysical implications of this and the fact that Frege didn’t care about them.

PREVIEW-Episode 34: Frege on the Logic of Language

March 13, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer 31 Comments

On Gottlob Frege’s “Sense and Reference,” “Concept and Object” (both from 1892) and “The Thought” (1918). With guest Matt Teichman.

Looking for the full Citizen version?

Topic for #34: Frege on Language, Truth, and Logic

February 13, 2011 by Mark Linsenmayer Leave a Comment

What is it about sentences that expresses truth or falsity? Gottlob Frege is considered one of the fathers of analytic philosophy, but it’s hard for someone with a general interest in philosophy to see much of his work as overtly philosophical. He did a lot of the work inventing modern symbolic logic, with an eye to providing a logical foundation Continue Reading …

Episode 8: Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (and Carnap): What Can We Legitimately Talk About?

September 4, 2009 by Mark Linsenmayer 17 Comments

Continuing last ep’s discussion of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus with some Rudolph Carnap from his 1935 book Philosophy and Logical Syntax.