Colloquia » Buffalo Logic Colloquium » Current Schedule

2007-8 THIRTY-EIGHTH YEAR
SUMMER ANNOUNCEMENT

FIRST MEETING:
Tuesday, July 1, 2008	12:00-1:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: John Corcoran, Philosophy, University at Buffalo

TITLE: Regular Polygons and Polyhedra: a Theme of Euclid’s Elements

ABSTRACT: This informal lecture discusses the first proposition of Euclid’s first book,
the last proposition of the last book, and selected intermediate propositions linking them.
It summarizes the Euclidean theories of polygons and polyhedra that have been taken to
provide the key for Euclid’s choice of theorems to prove and his choice of the order of
theorems in his works. These clear, easily-grasped, surprising, and exquisitely beautiful
developments have played important roles in the history of philosophy and of
mathematics. Among the thinkers who have been influenced by these ideas we find Plato,
Kepler, Euler, Gauss, and Lakatos. For background Google: Platonic solid, Euler, and
graph theory.

SECOND MEETING:
Tuesday, July 8, 2008	12:00-1:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: George Boger, Chair, Philosophy, Canisius College

TITLE: Translating Prior Analytics A, 1-7 and 23: a Workshop

ABSTRACT: We will discuss problems arising in translation of Prior Analytics focusing
on Chapters 1-7 and 23 of Book A. Knowledge of two or more English translations
would be useful but not necessary. A little knowledge of Greek will help, but every effort
will be made to be accessible to those with non-existent or weak skill in Greek, such as
Corcoran. A new translation by George Boger will be presented and commented on.

THIRD MEETING:
Tuesday, July 15, 2008	12:00-1:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: John Corcoran, Philosophy, University at Buffalo

TITLE: Aristotle’s Logic at the University of Buffalo

ABSTRACT: If there is one thing that the University of Buffalo’s Department of
Philosophy will be remembered for, it might be the half-century-long tradition of
contributing to our understanding of the most important logic book ever written:
Aristotle’s Organon. The one of the first contributions in the series is William Parry’s
“Quantification of the predicate and many-sorted logic” in Philosophy and
Phenomenological Research 22 (1966), 342-60. Ironically, perhaps the last contribution
to date is a lecture that refers to and builds on Parry’s paper; that lecture is my own
“Aristotle’s many-sorted logic” abstracted in the Bulletin of Symbolic Logic (to appear), a
part of a larger three-hour tutorial given in May of this year. Other contributions were
made over the years by Sherwin Iverson, Lynn Rose, John Anton, John Mulhern, Mary
Mulhern, John Glanville, Ronald Zirin, John Kearns, Lee Mohler, John Swiniarski,
Michael Scanlan, James Gasser, José Miguel Sagüillo, George Boger, and maybe others.
I hope that all involved in this tradition will send me an annotated bibliography of their
own contributions.

This BLC meeting will preview the talk I will give on Saturday 19 July at 9am opening
the UB Alumni Conference.

FOURTH MEETING:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008	12:00-1:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: Leigh Duffy, Philosophy, University at Buffalo

TITLE: Discussing Corcoran’s 1973 “Meanings of Implication”

ABSTRACT: John Corcoran’s 1973 paper “Meanings of Implication” (Dialogos 9, 59-76) has been translated into Spanish in 1985 as “Significados de la Implicación” (Agora 5, 279-294)by J. M. Sagillo. A slightly updated version was reprinted in the 1993 anthology A Philosophical Companion to First Order Logic (Hackett Publishing Company). Copies will be available at the meeting devoted to discussion and critical examination of selected passages in the paper. Leigh Duffy will lead the discussion.

For a PDF reprint, email corcoran@buffalo.edu with MI in the subject line.

FIFTH MEETING:
Tuesday, August 12, 2008	12:00-1:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: John Corcoran, Philosophy, University at Buffalo

TITLE: Frege’s Thoughts

ABSTRACT: After his retirement in 1918, Frege published a number of important articles, "Der Gedanke" ("The Thought", 1918), "Der Verneinung" ("Negation", 1918), and "Gedankengefüge" ("Compound Thoughts", 1923). “The Thought” is one of the main influences on the theory of sentences and propositions in Church’s 1956 INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL LOGIC. John Corcoran will read and discuss passages from Frege’s “The Thought” and lead an open discussion of it. There are two translations; one is in MIND 1956. Copies of the paper will be available at the meeting. The presentation and discussion will not presuppose prior acquaintance with the article or with the issues treated.

SIXTH MEETING:
Wednesday, August 19, 2008	12:00-1:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: George Boger, Chair, Philosophy, Canisius College

TITLE: Paradoxes: to be or to be perceived?

ABSTRACT: When logicians such as Tarski and Quine take a paradox to be an appearance that an absurdity has been deduced, three problems emerge. (1) What is the genus of paradox — argumentation or belief? If a paradox is participant relative, it cannot strictly be a logical entity. (2) What is the proper subject matter of logic — determining logical relationships among propositions or assessing beliefs? (3) If a deduction and a demonstration, as a paradox, make elliptical reference to a participant, is objective knowledge in the strict sense possible? On page 21 of his 1989 paper “Argumentations and Logic”, John Corcoran especially treats a paradox as involving a chain of reasoning. This, however, involves the epistemic/ontic fallacy that threatens deduction, the linchpin of rationality. Because his philosophic treatment of logic exemplifies traditional thinking, reference to his treatment serves to illuminate some problems in philosophy of logic. This discussion introduces the Corcoran paradox and refines the notion paradox by proposing its radical re-definition as having cogent argumentation for its genus. Taking this approach places the notion paradox on a par with the notions deduction and demonstration and avoids their being doxastic or intentional objects. While the extensions of the classes of demonstrations and deduction are infinite, the class of paradoxes is empty. In this way, this discussion resolves a problem in the definition of paradox that implicates deduction and its role in establishing knowledge.

For a PDF reprint of the Corcoran paper, email corcoran@buffalo.edu with AL in the subject line.

NOTE DAY AND TIME OF THE SEVENTH MEETING.

SEVENTH MEETING:
Monday, August 25, 2008	4:00-5:30 p.m.	141 Park Hall

SPEAKER: John Corcoran, Philosophy, University at Buffalo

TITLE: Discussing Frege’s Thoughts Again

ABSTRACT: In the 12 August meeting, John Corcoran moderated a discussion of Frege’s “The Thought” using the translation by A. and M. Quinton in MIND 1956. In this 25 August meeting, he will resume reading and discussing passages from this classic of philosophical logic. Unlike the previous one, this discussion WILL presuppose prior acquaintance with the article and with the issues treated. It will not however assume acquaintance with the 12 August discussion. The paper is one of the main influences on the theory of sentences and propositions in Church’s 1956 INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL LOGIC. Copies of the paper will be available at the meeting.

For a PDF reprint of the Quinton translation, email corcoran@buffalo.edu with THOUGHT in the subject line.

The seventh meeting is the last summer meeting of the BLC for 2008.

Future Speakers: David Braun (University of Buffalo), William Demopoulos (University of Western Ontario), David DeVidi (University of Waterloo), David Hitchcock (McMaster University) , Stewart Shapiro (Ohio State University), Barry Smith (University of Buffalo), Leonard Jacuzzo (Canisius College and Fredonia University), Frango Nabrasa (Manatee Institute), Thomas Reber (Canisius College)

THESE ARE BROWN-BAG MEETINGS. COME WHEN YOU ARE FREE. BRING LUNCH. LEAVE WHEN YOU HAVE TO. ALL ARE WELCOME

All are Welcome.

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Department of Philosophy

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