Scribble at 2021-01-09 11:19:46 Last modified: unmodified

Both Philosophy and Mathematics study abstract concepts and structures, and they share an intertwined early history. On the one hand, a lot of mathematical/logical tools are used in the frontier philosophical research on the concepts such as infinity, necessity, possibility, existence, truth, meaning, knowledge, belief, causality, and so on, which makes the philosophical discussions more precise and deeper. On the other hand, in facing the past three crises in mathematics in history, philosophical ideas played a key role in the development of mathematics. In particular, the early 20th century witnessed the development of mathematical logic which deepened our understanding of mathematics and its foundation.

Bertrand Russell made fundamental contributions to both philosophy and mathematics and was one of the founders of Mathematical Philosophy. On the occasion of the centenary of his visit to Peking University (1920-1921), we organize a series of online lectures and panels to provide the audience the connections between modern philosophy and mathematics in a comprehensive way, showing the role of mathematical tools played in the current philosophical research. At the same time, we also hope to be able to demonstrate the lively connections between philosophy and other related disciplines such as linguistics, theoretical computers, artificial intelligence, and so on.

The event is organized by the Centre for Philosophy and the Future of Humanity (CPFH) and the Center for Logic, Language and Cognition at the Department of Philosophy, Peking University. A Mathematical Philosophy Week was organized in 2019. For more information, contact Yanjing Wang (mathphil@pku.edu.cn).