MIMS Workshop on
New Directions in Philosophy of Mathematics
Manchester, Saturday 4 October 2008.
This workshop is part of the MIMS (Manchester Institute for Mathematical Sciences) New Directions series of workshops taking place in MIMS throughout 2008.
Mathematics and philosophy have a long history of involvement with each other. Profound changes to both disciplines have occurred through this interaction from the Greek exploration of the foundations of geometry, through the early modern philosopher-mathematicians, such as Descartes (analytic geometry) and Leibniz (calculus), to Frege and the beginnings of analytic philosophy under Russell. In recent times, however, this involvement has largely dwindled. For the most part philosophy’s interest in mathematics over the past half century has been of no interest to mathematicians. There has been a growing unrest with this state of affairs, and we are beginning to see encouraging signs of efforts to bridge the gulf between these great disciplines.
These new approaches range from studies which pay close attention to the cognitive, historical, or sociological aspects of mathematical practice, through to those which see developments within recent mathematics as being of philosophical importance, whether model theory, category theory, or the current intense interaction between mathematics and physics. The workshop will explore these themes, and will allow philosophers and mathematicians the chance to hear each other’s views on the direction forward for the philosophy of mathematics.
Organisers: Alexandre Borovik (School of Mathematics, University of Manchester), David Corfield (Department of Philosophy, University of Kent).
Programme, Saturday 4 October 2008:
10:00 Coffee
10:30 Mary Leng (Liverpool) Creation and discovery in mathematics
11:30 George Joseph (Manchester) History of Non-Western Mathematics: New Perspectives
12:30-13:00 Lunch, to be served on premises
13:00 Marcus Giaquinto (UCL) Curves in Proofs
14:00 Angus Macintyre (QMUL) The Impact of Incompleteness on Pure Mathematics
15:00 David Corfield (Kent) The Reality of Mathematics
16:00 Panel discussion, with some wine being served.
17:00 End
Venue: All talks will take place in Frank Adams Room in MIMS in the Alan Turing Building at the University of Manchester. The building is 20 minutes walk from the city centre and 15 minutes walk from Piccadilly or Oxford Road train stations. Directions to MIMS are available.
Night before, Friday 3 October: for those particiapants, who come on Friday to stay overnight, or who are local, we suggest an informal get-together at 19:00 at Lass O’Gowrie with the aim of having dinner at 20:00 at East Z East Ibis Hotel on Princess street. Since an advanced booking for East Z East is needed, please notify me in advance that you are coming for dinner.
If you wish to attend, please, send an e-mail by Friday 26 September to
Mathematics under the Microscope 
Have you seen The Principles of Mathematics Revisited
By Jaakko Hintikka? I had read it shortly after its publication and found it very interesting and amusing too, highly recommended.
By: Misha on September 3, 2008
at 11:54 pm
[…] New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics October 8, 2008 Posted by dcorfield in Uncategorized. trackback To celebrate the founding of MIMS, the mathematics department of the recently unified Manchester University, it was proposed that various workshops named ‘New Directions in…’ be run. They kindly agreed to allow Alexandre Borovik and me to organise one of these workshops on the Philosophy of Mathematics. […]
By: New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics « A Dialogue on Infinity on October 8, 2008
at 4:43 pm