•  147
    A Critical Discussion of the “Memory-Challenge” to Interpretations of the Private Language Argument
    Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 9 (4): 48-58. 2021.
    In a recent paper, Francis Y. Lin proposes a “memory-challenge” to two main interpretations of Wittgenstein’s private language argument: the “no-criterion-of-correctness” interpretation and the “no-stage-setting” interpretation. According to Lin, both camps of interpretation fail to explain why a private language is impossible within a short time period. To answer the “memory-challenge”, Lin motivates a grammatical interpretation of the private language argument. In this paper, I provide a criti…Read more
  •  68
    Turing and Von Neumann: From Logic to the Computer
    with B. Jack Copeland
    Philosophies 8 (2): 22. 2023.
    This article provides a detailed analysis of the transfer of a key cluster of ideas from mathematical logic to computing. We demonstrate the impact of certain of Turing’s logico-philosophical concepts from the mid-1930s on the emergence of the modern electronic computer—and so, in consequence, Turing’s impact on the direction of modern philosophy, via the computational turn. We explain why both Turing and von Neumann saw the problem of developing the electronic computer as a problem in logic, an…Read more
  •  35
    Hobson’s Conception of Definable Numbers
    History and Philosophy of Logic 41 (2): 128-139. 2020.
    In this paper, I explore an intriguing view of definable numbers proposed by a Cambridge mathematician Ernest Hobson, and his solution to the paradoxes of definability. Reflecting on König’s paradox and Richard’s paradox, Hobson argues that an unacceptable consequence of the paradoxes of definability is that there are numbers that are inherently incapable of finite definition. Contrast to other interpreters, Hobson analyses the problem of the paradoxes of definability lies in a dichotomy between…Read more
  •  16
    Does walking/running experience shape the sagittal mental time line?
    with Yuewen Jiang, Fengxiao Hao, Zhenyi Huang, Ling Chen, Xiaorong Cheng, and Xianfeng Ding
    Consciousness and Cognition 116 (C): 103587. 2023.