•  149
    Provability in principle and controversial constructivistic principles
    Journal of Philosophical Logic 26 (6): 635-660. 1997.
    New epistemic principles are formulated in the language of Shapiro's system of Epistemic Arithmetic. It is argued that some plausibility can be attributed to these principles. The relations between these principles and variants of controversial constructivistic principles are investigated. Special attention is given to variants of the intuitionistic version of Church's thesis and to variants of Markov's principle
  •  245
    Computational Structuralism &dagger
    Philosophia Mathematica 13 (2): 174-186. 2005.
    According to structuralism in philosophy of mathematics, arithmetic is about a single structure. First-order theories are satisfied by models that do not instantiate this structure. Proponents of structuralism have put forward various accounts of how we succeed in fixing one single structure as the intended interpretation of our arithmetical language. We shall look at a proposal that involves Tennenbaum's theorem, which says that any model with addition and multiplication as recursive operations…Read more
  •  163
    One Hundred Years of Semantic Paradox
    Journal of Philosophical Logic (6): 1-15. 2015.
    This article contains an overview of the main problems, themes and theories relating to the semantic paradoxes in the twentieth century. From this historical overview I tentatively draw some lessons about the way in which the field may evolve in the next decade
  • Gomperts, M.C., Neeltje komt dinsdag in evakostuum (review)
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 55 (3): 571. 1993.
  •  88
    Canonical naming systems
    Minds and Machines 15 (2): 229-257. 2004.
    This paper outlines a framework for the abstract investigation of the concept of canonicity of names and of naming systems. Degrees of canonicity of names and of naming systems are distinguished. The structure of the degrees is investigated, and a notion of relative canonicity is defined. The notions of canonicity are formally expressed within a Carnapian system of second-order modal logic.
  •  266
    An argument concerning the unknowable
    Analysis 69 (2): 240-242. 2009.
    Williamson has forcefully argued that Fitch's argument shows that the domain of the unknowable is non-empty. And he exhorts us to make more inroads into the land of the unknowable. Concluding his discussion of Fitch's argument, he writes: " Once we acknowledge that [the domain of the unknowable] is non-empty, we can explore more effectively its extent. … We are only beginning to understand the deeper limits of our knowledge. " I shall formulate and evaluate a new argument concerning the domain o…Read more
  •  109
    Platonistic formalism
    Erkenntnis 54 (2): 173-194. 2001.
    The present paper discusses a proposal which says,roughly and with several qualifications, that thecollection of mathematical truths is identical withthe set of theorems of ZFC. It is argued that thisproposal is not as easily dismissed as outright falseor philosophically incoherent as one might think. Some morals of this are drawn for the concept ofmathematical knowledge.
  •  293
    Infinitesimal Probabilities
    with Vieri Benci and Sylvia Wenmackers
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 69 (2): 509-552. 2016.
    Non-Archimedean probability functions allow us to combine regularity with perfect additivity. We discuss the philosophical motivation for a particular choice of axioms for a non-Archimedean probability theory and answer some philosophical objections that have been raised against infinitesimal probabilities in general. 1 Introduction2 The Limits of Classical Probability Theory2.1 Classical probability functions2.2 Limitations2.3 Infinitesimals to the rescue?3 NAP Theory3.1 First four axioms of NA…Read more
  •  169
    No future
    Journal of Philosophical Logic 30 (3): 259-265. 2001.
    The difficulties with formalizing the intensional notions necessity, knowability and omniscience, and rational belief are well-known. If these notions are formalized as predicates applying to (codes of) sentences, then from apparently weak and uncontroversial logical principles governing these notions, outright contradictions can be derived. Tense logic is one of the best understood and most extensively developed branches of intensional logic. In tense logic, the temporal notions future and past…Read more
  •  329
    Reflecting on Absolute Infinity
    Journal of Philosophy 113 (2): 89-111. 2016.
    This article is concerned with reflection principles in the context of Cantor’s conception of the set-theoretic universe. We argue that within such a conception reflection principles can be formulated that confer intrinsic plausibility to strong axioms of infinity.
  •  154
    In defense of epistemic arithmetic
    Synthese 116 (1): 1-25. 1998.
    This paper presents a defense of Epistemic Arithmetic as used for a formalization of intuitionistic arithmetic and of certain informal mathematical principles. First, objections by Allen Hazen and Craig Smorynski against Epistemic Arithmetic are discussed and found wanting. Second, positive support is given for the research program by showing that Epistemic Arithmetic can give interesting formulations of Church's Thesis.
  •  50
    Terugkeer van het subject? Verslag van de 23e Vlaams-Nederlandse filosofiedag, Kortrijk, 27 oktober 2001
    Algemeen Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Wijsbegeerte 94 (2): 155-158. 2002.
  •  64
    Formalizing Church’s Thesis
    In Adam Olszewski, Jan Wolenski & Robert Janusz (eds.), Church's Thesis After 70 Years, De Gruyter. pp. 253-268. 2006.
  •  220
    Truth is Simple
    Mind 126 (501): 195-232. 2017.
    Even though disquotationalism is not correct as it is usually formulated, a deep insight lies behind it. Specifically, it can be argued that, modulo implicit commitment to reflection principles, all there is to the notion of truth is given by a simple, natural collection of truth-biconditionals.
  •  58
    Book Review: Stewart Shapiro. Vagueness in Context (review)
    Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 50 (2): 221-226. 2009.
  •  436
    Philosophy of mathematics
    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2008.
    If mathematics is regarded as a science, then the philosophy of mathematics can be regarded as a branch of the philosophy of science, next to disciplines such as the philosophy of physics and the philosophy of biology. However, because of its subject matter, the philosophy of mathematics occupies a special place in the philosophy of science. Whereas the natural sciences investigate entities that are located in space and time, it is not at all obvious that this is also the case with respect to th…Read more
  •  65
    Principles of truth (edited book)
    Hänsel-Hohenhausen. 2002.
    On the one hand, the concept of truth is a major research subject in analytic philosophy. On the other hand, mathematical logicians have developed sophisticated logical theories of truth and the paradoxes. Recent developments in logical theories of the semantical paradoxes are highly relevant for philosophical research on the notion of truth. And conversely, philosophical guidance is necessary for the development of logical theories of truth and the paradoxes. From this perspective, this volume …Read more
  •  162
    On the Quantitative Scalar or-Implicature
    Synthese 146 (1-2): 111-127. 2005.
    .  Two simple generalized conversational implicatures are investigated :(1) the quantitative scalar implicature associated with ‘or’, and (2) the ‘not-and’-implicature, which is the dual to (1). It is argued that it is more fruitful to consider these implicatures as rules of interpretation and to model them in an algebraic fashion than to consider them as nonmonotonic rules of inference and to model them in a proof-theoretic way.
  •  142
    Models for the logic of possible proofs
    Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 81 (1). 2000.
  •  4830
    Cantorian Infinity and Philosophical Concepts of God
    with Joanna Van der Veen
    European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 5 (3): 117--138. 2013.
    It is often alleged that Cantor’s views about how the set theoretic universe as a whole should be considered are fundamentally unclear. In this article we argue that Cantor’s views on this subject, at least up until around 1896, are relatively clear, coherent, and interesting. We then go on to argue that Cantor’s views about the set theoretic universe as a whole have implications for theology that have hitherto not been sufficiently recognised. However, the theological implications in question, …Read more
  •  154
    Having an interpretation (review)
    Philosophical Studies 150 (3). 2010.
    I investigate what it means to have an interpretation of our language, how we manage to bestow a determinate interpretation to our utterances, and to which extent our interpretation of the world is determinate. All this is done in dialogue with van Fraassen's insightful discussion of Putnam's model-theoretic argument and of scientific structuralism
  •  108
    The work of mathematician and logician Alfred Tarski (1901--1983) marks the transition from substantial to deflationary views about truth.
  •  231
    Revision Revisited
    Review of Symbolic Logic 5 (4): 642-664. 2012.
    This article explores ways in which the Revision Theory of Truth can be expressed in the object language. In particular, we investigate the extent to which semantic deficiency, stable truth, and nearly stable truth can be so expressed, and we study different axiomatic systems for the Revision Theory of Truth.
  •  72
    An Axiomatic Investigation of Provability as a Primitive Predicate
    In Volker Halbach & Leon Horsten (eds.), Principles of truth, Hänsel-hohenhausen. pp. 203-220. 2002.
  • Peelen, G.J. , Het voordeel van de twijfel. In gesprek met de wetenschap (review)
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 53 (4): 737. 1991.