Guest
Thing in Itself Mar 30, 2022 James Robert brown is professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, focusing on mathematics and philosophy of science. We talk about mathematics, platonism, thought experiments, the experience of doing science, social problems in the development of science, and more. Chapters: 0:00:00 intro 0:01:15 mathematical platonism / is math created or discovered? 0:28:50 empiricism 0:39:25 constructivism and intuitionism 0:41:26 thoughts on theoretical computer science / platonist view of quantum mechanics 0:49:45 reductionism and naturalism 1:00:04 Lakoff and the epistemology of mathematics 1:11:22 Quine and Putnam’s indispensability argument 1:15:19 thought experiments / refuting the continuum hypothesis / what is a proof? 1:23:15 social constructivism, Sokal’s hoax, and criticizing institutions 1:38:35 a word on cosmology and some not so useless questions 1:42:33 aesthetics James' website: ~jrbrown/ Books mentioned: James Robert Brown - The Laboratory of the Mind: Thought Experiments in the Natural Sciences James Robert Brown - Platonism, Naturalism, and Mathematical Knowledge James Robert Brown - The Rational and the Social James Robert Brown - Who Rules in Science? James McAllister - Beauty and Revolution in Mathematics Sabine Hossenfelder - Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray A.J. Ayer - Language, Truth, and Logic Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont - Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science Original from here:
