In 1944 Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote that his "chief contribution ha[d] been in the philosophy of mathematics" (Monk, 1990,p. 466). Oddly enough, however, as opposed to his other philosophical contributions, his writings and lectures on mathematics have remained largely uncharted if not misconceived. The peculiarity of the matter becomes even more apparent, when we realize that the bulk of his oeuvre past 1929 was devoted to the topic.What comes to the front, when examining these remarks on mathematics, is Wittgenstein's insistence on understanding mathematics as a 'human invention' or 'anthropological phenomenon' set within and driven by a certain community. Mathematics is an activity; a practice that constructs "various ways of seeing conceptual possibilities and empirical situations, proof and logical methods central to its progress". (Floyd, 2021) Interestingly, in recent years, a subset of philosophers of mathematics have concerned themselves with the practice of mathematicians, instigating what is now known as the 'philosophy of mathematical practice' (PMP).Among these philosophers, Wilder (1950, 1981), Pólya (1945, 1954, 1962), Lakatos (1976) and Kitcher (1984) are often mentioned as initiators of this movement, although PMP has mainly by driven in the last 20 years by the influential monographs and collected volumes by the likes of Van Kerkhove (2007, 2009) and Van Bendegem (2007), Löwe and Muller (2010), Mancosu (2008), Ferreirós and Gray (2006), Giaquinto (2007) and Macbeth (2014), among many others.
The aim of this conference is to investigate the historical, present and future significance and influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein to the Philosophy of Mathematical Practice, bridging the gap between both scholarships.
Invited talks: Sorin Bangu (University of Bergen),Jordi Fairhurst (KU Leuven), José Antonio Pérez Escobar (ENS Paris), Wim Vanrie (University of Ghent), Karim Zahidi (University of Antwerp).
Contributed talks: Matteo de Ceglie (University of Salzburg), David Chandler (University College London), Paolo Degiorgi (Boston University), Johannes Lenhard (RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau), Ásgeir Berg Matthíasson (University of Iceland), Jack Verschoyle (MCMP, LMU), Wei Zeng (Nagoya University).
Registrations: We envision thisconference mainly as an activity with in-person exchange, so we strongly motivate to join us in person.There is no participation fee for online participants There might be at most a small fee .for in person participants. We might need ask you to cover your own food at the conference venue this will be less than 20 EUR and non-binding, we have no funds to cover travel or accommodation. Please register / apply via this google form : https://forms.gle/dSQd8jivcs2RvQLc9
Location: The conference will take place both online and at Academy Palace (Paleis der Academiën) - Rue Ducale 1, B-1000 Brussels.
Organizers: Deniz Sarikaya, Bart Van Kerkhove, Vincent M. P. Vincke, Erik Weber
Thanks: The conference would not have been possible, without the generous support of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, the CLPS: Center for Logic & Philosophy of Science of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Doctoral School of Human Sciences (DSh) of the VUB.
Contact Information: For any questions, please contact the organizers by sending an email to Vincent.Michel.Vincke@vub.be or deniz.sarikaya@vub.be.
For up to date information see also the webpage:https://sites.google.com/view/wittgenstein-meets-pmp/