TIMOTHY WILLIAMSON
Wykeham Professor of Logic
University of Oxford
LOGIC, SCIENCE, AND METAPHYSICS
5 and 6 June 2012, 11:00
Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon
Room: Anfiteatro 4
The similarities between logic and other branches of science are usually underestimated. Like other scientific theories, logics can be compared and assessed abductively in terms of their simplicity, strength, elegance, and consistency with what is already known. Tarski’s definition of logical truth provides a suitable standard of correctness for them to aim at. Such an account can avoid the objectionable features of Quine’s holism.
Lecture 2: Modal Logic as Metaphysics
The second lecture is a case study of the methodology described in the first, applied to modal logic with a metaphysical interpretation of the modal operators. Some consequences will be drawn out for possible worlds model theory and the question of whether there could have been things that do not actually exist. The relevance of higher-order modal logic for these issues will also be explained.
The Petrus Hispanus Lectures are delivered every other academic year at the University of Lisbon by a leading figure in current research about the nature of mind, cognition and language. Previous Petrus Hispanus Lecturers: Hilary Putnam, Daniel Dennett, Richard Jeffrey, Ned Block, David Kaplan, Tyler Burge.
Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa
LanCog Group (Language, Mind and Cognition Research Group)
http://www.lancog.com/
Project Online Companion PTDC/FIL-FIL/121209/2010
For more information, please contact
Professor João Branquinho
