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1322Tools, Objects, and Chimeras: Connes on the Role of Hyperreals in MathematicsFoundations of Science 18 (2): 259-296. 2013.We examine some of Connes’ criticisms of Robinson’s infinitesimals starting in 1995. Connes sought to exploit the Solovay model S as ammunition against non-standard analysis, but the model tends to boomerang, undercutting Connes’ own earlier work in functional analysis. Connes described the hyperreals as both a “virtual theory” and a “chimera”, yet acknowledged that his argument relies on the transfer principle. We analyze Connes’ “dart-throwing” thought experiment, but reach an opposite conclus…Read more
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999Set Theory, Topology, and the Possibility of Junky WorldsNotre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 55 (1). 2014.A possible world is a junky world if and only if each thing in it is a proper part. The possibility of junky worlds contradicts the principle of general fusion. Bohn (2009) argues for the possibility of junky worlds, Watson (2010) suggests that Bohn‘s arguments are flawed. This paper shows that the arguments of both authors leave much to be desired. First, relying on the classical results of Cantor, Zermelo, Fraenkel, and von Neumann, this paper proves the possibility of junky worlds for certain…Read more
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786Carnap's boundless ocean of unlimited possibilities : between enlightenment and romanticismIn Pierre Wagner (ed.), Carnap's Ideal of Explication and Naturalism, Palgrave-macmillan. 2012.
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16Review: Neuere Literatur zur Philosophie Cassirers (review)Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 54 (3). 2000.
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849One Hundred Years of Philosophy of Science: The View from MunichVienna Circle Institute Yearbook 15. 2011.These days, a number of philosophers of science indulge in lamenting about a crisis of their discipline. They complain about its loss of relevance, and bemoan the mar gi na lization of their dis cipline in the philosophical community and in the wider academia , Hardcastle and Richardson ). The Munich take on the philosophy of science does not succumb to this temptation. According to it, philosophy of science is well and alive. In Carlos Ulises Moulines’s Die Entwicklung der modernen Wissen schaf…Read more
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703Similarity and Continuous Quality DistributionsThe Monist 79 (1): 76-88. 1996.In the philosophy of the analytical tradition, set theory and formal logic are familiar formal tools. I think there is no deep reason why the philosopher’s tool kit should be restricted to just these theories. It might well be the case—to generalize a dictum of Suppes concerning philosophy of science—that the appropriate formal device for doing philosophy is mathematics in general; it may be set theory, algebra, topology, or any other realm of mathematics. In this paper I want to employ elementa…Read more
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112En la estructura de una teoría se han distinguido tradicionalmente dos niveles conceptual y metodológicamente distintos: el nivel empirico y el teórico. Sostenemos que este enfoque de! doble nivel es incompleto y que conduce además a distorsiones, tanto en la comprensión filosofíca de las teorías como en la de su uso en la praxis científica. En este artículo se diseña un nuevo enfoque, segun el cual las teorías se conciben como estructuras representacionales tripartitas, que comprenden tres nive…Read more
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1088Morris’ Pariser Programm einer wissenschaftlichen PhilosophieIn Christian Bonnet & Elisabeth Nemeth (eds.), Zur Wissenschaftsphilosophie in Frankreich und Oesterreich in der ersten Hälfte des 20.Jahrhunderts, Springer. 2016.Abstract: One of the institutional highlights of the encounter between Austrian “wissen¬schaftliche Philosophie” and French “philosophie scientifique” in the first half of the 20th century was the “First International Congress for Unity of Science” that took place 1935 in Paris. In my contribution I deal with an episode of the philosophical mega-event whose protagonist was the American philosopher and semiotician Charles William Morris. At the Paris congress he presented his programme of a comp…Read more
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1204Toward a Theory of the Pragmatic A Priori. From Carnap to Lewis and BeyondRudolf Carnap and the Legacy of Logical Empiricism 16. 2012.The aim of this paper is make a contribution to the ongoing search for an adequate concept of the a priori element in scientific knowledge. The point of departure is C.I. Lewis’s account of a pragmatic a priori put forward in his "Mind and the World Order" (1929). Recently, Hasok Chang in "Contingent Transcendental Arguments for Metaphysical Principles" (2008) reconsidered Lewis’s pragmatic a priori and proposed to conceive it as the basic ingredient of the dynamics of an embodied scientific rea…Read more
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774Synthetic Geometry and AufbauIn Thomas Bonk (ed.), Language, Truth and Knowledge, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 45--64. 2003.
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751Structural Analogies Between Mathematical and Empirical TheoriesIn Javier Echeverria, Andoni Ibarra & Thomas Mormann (eds.), The Space of Mathematics: Philosophical, Epistemological, and Historical Explorations, De Gruyter. 1992.
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1144Mathematical Metaphors in Natorp’s Neo-Kantian Epistemology and Philosophy of ScienceIn Falk Seeger, Johannes Lenard & Michael H. G. Hoffmann (eds.), Activity and Sign. Grounding Mathematical Education, Springer. 2005.A basic thesis of Neokantian epistemology and philosophy of science contends that the knowing subject and the object to be known are only abstractions. What really exists, is the relation between both. For the elucidation of this “knowledge relation ("Erkenntnisrelation") the Neokantians of the Marburg school used a variety of mathematical metaphors. In this con-tribution I reconsider some of these metaphors proposed by Paul Natorp, who was one of the leading members of the Marburg school. It i…Read more
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440A quasi-analytical Constitution of Physical SpaceIn Carsten Klein & Steven Awodey (eds.), Carnap Brought Home - The View from Jena, Open Court. 2004.
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676Appropriating Kuhn’s Philosophical Legacy. Three Attempts: Logical Empiricism, Structuralism, and NeokantianismCadernos de Filosofia Das Ciencias 8. 2010.In this paper we discuss three examples of the appropriation of Kuhn’s ideas in philosophy of science. First we deal with classical logical empiricism. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the arch-logical empiricist Carnap considered Kuhn’s socio-historical account as a useful complementation, and not as a threat of the philosophy of science of logical empiricism. As a second example we consider the attempt of the so-called struc- turalist philosophy of science to provide a “rational reconstruction” …Read more
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502Wertphilosophische Abschweifungen eines logischen Empiristen: Der Fall CarnapIn Anne Siegetsleitner (ed.), Logischer Empirismus, Werte und Moral: eine Neubewertung, Springer. 2010.
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710Topological Representations of Mereological SystemsPoznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 76. 2000.
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666Towards an Evolutionary Account of Conceptual Change in Mathematics: Proofs and Refutations and the Axiomatic Variation of ConceptsIn G. Kampis, L.: Kvasz & M. Stöltzner (eds.), Appraising Lakatos: Mathematics, Methodology and the Man, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 1--139. 2002.
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654Theories as RepresentationsPoznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities 61. 1997.In this paper we argue for the thesis that theories are to be considered as representations. The term "representation" is used in a sense inspired by its mathematical meaning. Our main thesis asserts that theories of empirical theories can be conceived as geometrical representations. This idea may be traced back to Galileo. The geometric format of empirical theories should not be simply considered as a clever device for displaying a theory. Rather, the geometrical character deeply influences the…Read more
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640Topological Aspects of Combinatorial PossibilityLogic and Logical Philosophy 5 (n/a). 1997.The aim of this paper is to show that topology has a bearing on<br><br>combinatorial theories of possibility. The approach developed in this article is “mapping account” considering combinatorial worlds as mappings from individuals to properties. Topological structures are used to define constraints on the mappings thereby characterizing the “really possible” combinations. The mapping approach avoids the well-known incompatibility problems. Moreover, it is compatible with atomistic as well as wi…Read more
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1235Trope Sheaves. A Topological Ontology of TropesLogic and Logical Philosophy of Science 3 (n/a): 129-150. 1995.In this paper I want to show that topology has a bearing on the theory of tropes. More precisely, I propose a topological ontology of tropes. This is to be understood as follows: trope ontology is a „one-category”-ontology countenancing only one kind of basic entities, to wit, tropes. 1 Hence, individuals, properties, relations, etc. are to be constructed from tropes
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703The general aim of this paper is to introduce some ideas of the theory of infinite topological games into the philosophical debate on supertasks. First, we discuss the elementary aspects of some infinite topological games, among them the Banach-Mazur game.Then it is shown that the Banach-Mazur game may be conceived as a Newtonian supertask.In section 4 we propose to conceive physical experiments as infinite games. This leads to the distinction between determined and undetermined experiments and …Read more
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688Ist der Begriff der Repräsentation obsolet?Zeitschrift für Philosophische Forschung 51 (3). 1997.Der Antirepräsentationalismus behauptet, es sei an der Zeit, das auf dem Begriff der Repräsentation basierende Paradigma der Philosophie zu verabschieden. Die von Rorty und anderen propagierte Unterscheidung von Repräsentationalismus und Antirepräsentationalismus beruht jedoch auf einem verkürzten Repräsentationsbegriff als Spiegelung. Der Begriff der Repräsentation, so wie er in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft gebraucht wird, hat nur wenig mit Spiegelung zu tun. Statt den Begriff der Repräsent…Read more
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1154Zwischen Weisheit und Wissenschaft - Schlicks weites philosophisches SpektrumGrazer Philosophische Studien 80 (1). 2010.
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264Structural Universals as Structural Parts: Toward a General Theory of Parthood and CompositionAxiomathes 20 (2-3). 2010.David Lewis famously argued against structural universals since they allegedly required what he called a composition “sui generis” that differed from standard mereological com¬position. In this paper it is shown that, although traditional Boolean mereology does not describe parthood and composition in its full generality, a better and more comprehensive theory is provided by the foundational theory of categories. In this category-theoretical framework a theory of structural universals can be fo…Read more
Ludwig Maximilians Universität, München
Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Study of Religion
PhD, 1995
Donostia-San Sebastián, PV, Spain
PhilPapers Editorships
Rudolf Carnap |