Universität Wien

180060 SE Introductory Readings in the Philosophy of Mathematics (2025S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

Hinweis der SPL Philosophie:

Das Abgeben von ganz oder teilweise von einem KI-tool (z.B. ChatGPT) verfassten Texten als Leistungsnachweis (z.B. Seminararbeit) ist nur dann erlaubt, wenn dies von der Lehrveranstaltungsleitung ausdrücklich als mögliche Arbeitsweise genehmigt wurde. Auch hierbei müssen direkt oder indirekt zitierte Textstellen wie immer klar mit Quellenangabe ausgewiesen werden.

Die Lehrveranstaltungsleitung kann zur Überprüfung der Autorenschaft einer abgegebenen schriftlichen Arbeit ein notenrelevantes Gespräch (Plausibilitätsprüfung) vorsehen, das erfolgreich zu absolvieren ist.
Moodle
Mo 28.04. 15:00-16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 10.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 17.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 24.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 31.03. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 07.04. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 05.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 12.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 19.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 26.05. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 02.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 16.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 23.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 30.06. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Mathematics is philosophically puzzling.
Mathematics seems to tell us about the world. Mathematics is useful in science and day-to-day life, perhaps unreasonably so.
That's not too surprising, lots of sciences are useful in practice. But, in contrast to other sciences, mathematics is purely theoretical.
It's unsurprising that, say, physics or chemistry is useful because physicists and chemists perform experiments on the actual world.
Mathematicians do nothing of the sort. Mathematical beliefs are justified by proofs not experiments.
How can something purely theoretical, not experimental, do such a good job at describing the world?
Does this show there are mathematical objects? Or that the world has mathematical structure? If so, how do we know about it?
How do our theories of knowledge or science need to change to accommodate this?
If there are no mathematical objects, how do we explain the efficacy of mathematics?
In this course, we will discuss all of these questions and more.
The purpose of the course is to provide a gentle introduction to a very interesting and important, though quite specialist, area of philosophy.
Vienna is a very active place for the Philosophy of Mathematics. By the end of this course, you will not only have a better understanding of the Philosophy of Mathematics but be able to engage with the wide range of events, talks and conferences on the philosophy of maths that take place here.
Prior knowledge of mathematics is NOT required (though is obviously helpful).
A good mark from your logic course will also be helpful, but is also not required.
If you have questions, you're welcome to email me at gareth.pearce@univie.ac.at
Note: I am happy to supervise BA theses as part of this course. See the "examination topics" section for details.

Assessment and permitted materials

The assessment has two parts: Two in-class tasks & the final essay.

If you complete both tasks to satisfaction and make a good-faith attempt at the final essay you will get at least a 3.
Higher grades (2 and 1) are awarded on the basis of the final essay.

The exact essay length is to be determined but is currently planned for ~2500 words.

The essay can be on any topic covered in the course.
Subject to agreement, you are welcome to write on other topics in the philosophy of mathematics not discussed in the course.
In particular, you are encouraged to attend talks, conferences and events on the philosophy of maths held in Vienna and are welcome to find inspiration there.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

(1) Completion of all in-class tasks, or suitable replacement tasks in the event of illness or reasonable absence.
(2) Completion of the final essay.

Examination topics

Content: All content covered in the course.
Skills: academic writing, reading & comprehension, argument analysis, and use of formal methods in philosophy.
Thesis supervision: I am happy to supervise BA theses as part of this course, subject to agreement of a suitable topic.
A suitable topic might be any of the topics covered during the course or some other topic in the history or philosophy of mathematics. I would also be happy to supervise topics in the philosophy of logic.
As with this course, the language of the thesis must be English.

Reading list

Linnebo, Øystein (2017). Philosophy of Mathematics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: We 12.03.2025 10:26