Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems - The dirty secrets of maths

There is an online BBC 4 programme about Gödel's incompleteness theorems. The programme -- In Our Time -- has invited three experts to share their view on the content and significance of the theorems. Although the show is certainly not intended for logicians, it might be interesting to see how these results are conveyed to the general public.

You can find a link to the audio here.

Contributors

Marcus du Sautoy, Professor of Mathematics at Wadham College, University of Oxford

John Barrow, Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Gresham Professor of Geometry

Philip Welch, Professor of Mathematical Logic at the University of Bristol

Workshop: Practice-based Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics

The call for papers is out for an exciting workshop on philosophy of logic and mathematics, August 31st to September 2nd 2009. The workshop is taking place in Amsterdam, and it's organised by my good friend Catarina Dutilh Novaes.

So far the list of confirmed speakers looks great:

Juliet Floyd (Philosophy – Boston University)
Rohit Parikh (Philosophy and Computer Science – City University of New York)
Benedikt Löwe (ILLC – University of Amsterdam)
Martin Stokhof (Philosophy and ILLC – University of Amsterdam)
Wilfrid Hodges (Mathematics – University of London)
Samson Abramsky (Computer Science – Oxford University)
Jean Paul van Bendegem (Philosophy – Free University Brussels)
Thomas Müller (Philosophy – Utrecht University)
Göran Sundholm (Philosophy – Leiden University)
Mathieu Marion (Philosophy – University of Quebec - Montreal)
Johan van Benthem (ILLC – University of Amsterdam)
Catarina Dutilh Novaes (Philosophy and ILLC – University of Amsterdam)

Here is a short description from the website:

The workshop is intended to enable philosophers, logicians and mathematicians to discuss the fruitfulness and viability of a practice-based approach to logic. Within the philosophy of mathematics this approach already has a certain standing, so practice-based philosophy of mathematics can serve as a starting point for the development of a practice-based philosophy of logic. We hope to offer a novel vantage point into what is after all an essentially human and social activity, the practice of logic. What do logicians do? How do they conduct their researches, individually and within the scientific community? How do they communicate with each other? Answers to these questions may offer new insights into the most fundamental issues that the philosophy of logic must address, such as: What is logic? What is logic about? Is there a common ground to the different activities that receive the label ‘logic’ at different times and places, or is it a mere case of equivocation? To address the matter of what logic is about, for example, the observation of what logicians actually talk about and deal with in their practices seems a more promising strategy than aprioristic definitions of what logic ought to be about.

Website with more info and cfp here.

Theorem(e) Logic Page (new url)

This great resource put together by Henri Galinon over at Theorem(e) has been around for some time. Just notice that there is a new url in case you're linking to the page.

As my flight reach Europe proper

Today I return from Melbourne. While I'm still up in the air, my blog - all on its own - posts this little tribute to Europe.

Yet, it's also time to thank all the wonderful people I've met in Melbourne. Too numerous to list here, I hope I've done them justice in some way or other during my short visit. What was once called the Australian plan in logic has now taken on a whole new meaning.

New Portal for LaTeX for Logicians

Peter Smith has made a new portal for the indispensable LaTeX for logicians page. You can find the portal together with Peter Smith's other stuff (blog, books, etc) on his homepages www.logicmatters.net.