Books Read: September, October, November 2024

Abstract: What does the semantically anti-realist revisionary programme of Michael Dummett have to do with contemporary work on proof assistants? What are mathematicians doing when they encode their proofs in these proof assistants, based on constructive type theory? What does all this have to do with the(?) norms of assertion? (And are these...

My last PhD student at the University of Melbourne has completed his project, and is now Dr John Cleary. Congratulations, John! It was so much fun to help supervise your project. I’ve learned a lot about Albert Lautman, and his account of the development of mathematics and the dialectic of ideas, problems and mathematical progress.

This week, Aaron Cotnoir’s Instruments of Unity project and I are hosting a short visit from our friend (and my PhD supervisor), Professor Graham Priest. It’s always enjoyable to spend time with him, and tomorrow, we’re going to teach a the second-last lecture class for my Intermediate Logic cohort together, on the liar paradox and non-classical...

I mentioned yesterday that this month I’ve enjoyed rereading Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy. This time around, after completing my re-read, I’ve enjoyed listening to Marooned on Mars, a podcast devoted to Kim Stanley Robinson’s fiction. The initial conceit of the podcast was that the hosts, Matt Hauske and Hilary Strang (two humanities...

Last century, Michael Dummett argued that the principles of intuitionistic logic are semantically neutral, and that classical logic involves a distinctive commitment to realism. The ensuing debate over realism and anti-realism and intuitionistic logic has now receded from view. The situation is reversed in mathematics: constructive reasoning has...