CAPE Lecture by Dr. Shelley Costa

When:
2019年6月13日 @ 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
2019-06-13T15:30:00+09:00
2019-06-13T17:00:00+09:00

講演者: Dr. Shelley Costa
日時: 2019年6月13日(木) 15:30-17:00
場所: 京都大学文学部校舎1階会議室 第5演習室(2階) ※場所が変更されました!

タイトル:
Action and Abstraction: How the early history of infinitesimal calculus illuminates truth as social process.

アブストラクト:
George Berkeley, Colin MacLaurin, and Daniel Bernoulli each devoted philosophical attention to mathematics and its potential relationship with the physical world. In this talk, I use their examples for two reasons. The first is to show the gradual coming of age — rather than the timeless truth — of the tenet that one should trust mathematics because of its efficacy in the physical world. The second, more general reason for considering this historical narrative is to call attention to some of the myriad ways in which social process generates knowledge. I perceive all types of “constructed” reality, including mathematics, as structurally isomorphic to physical external reality, and as equally meaningful in terms of action or human use in that they yield consistent, often predictable outcomes. By considering reality or existence in action-based terms, I hope to dissolve a falsely rigid dichotomy between constructed truth/reality and external truth/reality. Objectivity is the same in both cases. In both cases, objective knowledge must be attained in a social manner.