Symposium
Helsinki, Finland
19-20 May 2009
Focus Questions
The founder of pragmatism, Charles Sanders Peirce was also a scientist, philosopher, mathematician and one of the founders of modern logic. Among the logical innovations attributed to him are quantification (independently of Frege), three-valued logic and a comprehensive system of existential graphs. At the same time, Peirce had an exceptionally wide conception of logic as the normative science concerned with the goodness of belief, inference and scientific inquiry.
The purpose of this symposium is to discuss and evaluate Peirce’s logical and philosophical ideas in contrast and connection with developments in logic and analytic philosophy that simultaneously and consequently took place in Europe. The European thinkers of special interest to the symposium include Rudolf Hermann Lotze, Gottlob Frege, Edmund Husserl and Frank Ramsey.
Venue
The symposium is arranged by the Helsinki Peirce Research Centre at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Helsinki, Siltavuorenpenger 20 A. The event is sponsored by the Nordic Pragmatism Network.
The symposium sessions take place in room 334d, Department of Philosophy, Siltavuorenpenger 20A, 3rd floor. Research seminar sessions in the evenings are scheduled in room 222, 2nd floor.
Participation in the symposium is open to all interested and free of charge. For more information, please see the Symposium webpage at the HPRC.
Programme
Full programme (pdf).
Tuesday 19 May
(Room 334d)
| 11:30-13:00 | Christopher Hookway (University of Sheffield) Normative Logic and Psychology: Peirce on Dewey (full text (pdf)) Comments by Erkki Kilpinen and Henrik Rydenfelt |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00-15:15 | Frederik Stjernfelt (University of Aarhus) Diagrams and Categorial Intuition – Parallels between Late Peirce and Early Husserl (abstract (pdf)) Comments by Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen |
| 15:15-16:00 | Mirja Hartimo (University of Helsinki) Holism, Contextuality, and Compositionality in Husserl’s Logical Investigations (abstract (pdf)) |
| 16:00-16:30 | Coffee |
(Research Seminar Talk, room 222)
| 16:30-18:00 | Risto Hilpinen (University of Miami) Names, Senses, Conceptions, and Objects (abstract (pdf)) |
(Room 334d)
| 18:15-19:45 | Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen (University of Helsinki) Peirce’s Development of the Quantification Theory (powerpoint (pdf), abstract(pdf)) |
| Dinner |
Wednesday 20 May
(Room 334d)
| 9:30-11:00 | Christopher Hookway (University of Sheffield) “The Form of a Relation”: Peirce and Mathematical Structuralism (full text (pdf)) Comments by Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen |
| Break |
| 11:00-12:30 | Risto Hilpinen (University of Miami) On the Identity and Meaning of Names (abstract (pdf), handout (pdf)) Comments by Frederik Stjernfelt |
| 12:30-13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30-14:15 | Jaakko Hintikka (Boston University) The Ups and Downs of Logicism |
| 14:15-15:00 | Elina Nurmi (University of Helsinki / Cornell University) Theory of Meaning in the Begriffsschrift (1879) – Two Misconceptions (abstract(pdf)) |
| 15:15-16:00 | Gabriel Sandu (University of Helsinki / Université Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne) Frege, Ramsey, and Arbitrary Functions (abstract (pdf)) |
| 16:00-16:30 | Coffee |
(Research Seminar Talk, room 222)
| 16:30-18:00 | Christopher Hookway (University of Sheffield) Habits and Interpretation: Defending the Pragmatism Maxim (full text (pdf)) |