[FOM] Mathematical Practices conference in Brussels

[Martin Davis]

Second Perspectives on Mathematical Practices conference
26 - 28 March 2007, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

The general philosophical theme of this meeting will be that of why
and how philosophers and historians of mathematics need each other.
This takes for granted the thesis, ventilated by Lakatos, that they
do so. One is here referring, of course, to his famous paraphrase of
Kantian dictum: "The history of mathematics, lacking the guidance of
philosophy, has become blind, while the philosophy of mathematics,
turning its back on the most intruiging phenomena in the history of
mathematics, has become empty".

Any serious attempt at remedying this, and thus approaching the
history and philosophy of mathematics, will either have to "bring to"
philosophers the historian's expertise of conducting meticulous
diachronical case-studies, or else "bring to" historians the
philosopher's concern with epistemological depth; preferably both.
Moreover, a focus on the historical dimension of mathematical
practices is not to the exclusion of contemporary themes. To the
contrary: Lakatos's point pertains to the historicity of mathematical
knowledge, past and present.

Invited speakers: David Corfield (Tübingen, Germany) - José Ferreiros
(Seville, Spain) - Jens Hoyrup (Roskilde, Denmark) - Brendan Larvor
(Hertfordshire, UK) - Paolo Mancosu (Berkeley CA, US) - Gianluigi
Oliveri (Palermo, Italy) - Yehuda Rav (Paris, France)

Deadline for abstracts: 15 November 2006.

For more and detailed information, visit http://www.vub.ac.be/CLWF/ PMP2007.