February 21, 2018 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
The other day I was reading M. Resnik’s Frege and the Philosophy of Mathematics (1980). In discussing `Frege’s way out’, he mentions a proof by Leśniewski showing that Frege’s attempted fix to the system of the Grundgesetze is inconsistent, but gives a reference to a paper published by Sobociński in 1949. This intrigued me, as […]
September 27, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on The Further Adventures of Hero and Hera.
Those familiar with the neo-logicism literature, may also be familiar with the characters Hero and Hera. Hero was introduced by Crispin Wright in the late `90s, and the story Hero and his sister Hera was fleshed out by Philip Ebert and Marcus Rossberg in 2007*. In that paper, we learn that Hero and Hera both […]
May 23, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on Teaching as a Grad Student: Logic End of Semester
This is the 5th post in this series, and the third about my experience teaching for the first time (see parts one, and two). As of a couple of weeks ago, I finally managed to submit the final marks for the Logic I course I had been teaching, marking the end of my responsibilities for […]
April 26, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on Teaching as a Grad Student: Guest Lecturing on Logicism
I was recently given the opportunity to give a lecture on Frege’s logicism and related topics for our Logic III course (cross-listed as an undergraduate and a graduate course). That class had gotten up to the point of looking at second-order Peano Arithmetic, which is a natural jumping off point for looking at the logic […]
March 13, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
This is the third installment of our occasional series: Teaching as a Grad Student. In the first installment, I discussed preparing to teach for the first time, as well as my first couple of weeks teaching logic. In the second installment, Alison discussed her experiences teaching philosophy of science. We’re just past the half-way point […]
February 28, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on Goldilocks, Bad Company and some Slippery Fish
No this isn’t a terrible (amazing?) fairy tale. And no, the title isn’t (just) badly thought out clickbait. The Bad Company problem, the Goldilocks problem and the Problem of Fishiness are all problems I’m writing about in my dissertation. More specifically, the overarching idea is to look at ways of solving the Bad Company problem. […]
January 22, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
I have just started teaching my first course as instructor of record (i.e. I’m lecturing, not TAing), and I thought that this would be a good opportunity to start an occasional series on teaching as a graduate student. What follows are my thoughts after finishing my first (and now second) week of teaching. I plan […]
January 18, 2017 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on More About Forallx: Calgary Remix
The Winter 2017 edition of Forallx: Calgary remix has been out for a few weeks. Indeed, I’ve started teaching from it. Richard Zach has blogged about our progress here. Later this week I’ll be posting about my experience getting ready to teach “Logic I” for the first time, so stay tuned! (Photo credit: Richard […]
December 23, 2016 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on Call for Applications: Summer School on Mathematical Philosophy for Female Students
I was reminded by Alison’s post yesterday, that the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy (MCMP) has recently put out their call for applications for their summer school for women. It is the fourth iteration of this summer school, and this year’s lecturers are a veritable who’s who of mathematical philosophy. Applications are due March 5th, […]
October 18, 2016 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on An Open Source Logic Text
The Open Logic Project, initiated by my supervisor, Richard Zach, is a project to produce a comprehensive free and open source intermediate logic text. More recently, Richard and I have been putting together a Calgary remix of forallx, a free and open source text for introductory logic, originally written by PD Magnus. Below is the […]
July 24, 2016 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on Grinworthy Quotes (12)
Here’s W. V. O. Quine discussing the fact that Frege didn’t adopt a type theoretic approach (like Russell and Whitehead’s) when faced with Russell’s paradox. Actually, it is not to be wondered that Frege did not think of this course, or, thinking of it, adopt it. It was by having all his classes at ground […]
March 7, 2016 by Gordon Hawkes
There is a straightforward objection to any denial of the law of noncontradiction: A denial of the law of noncontradiction is self-refuting because one must presuppose the truth of the law of noncontradiction in order to deny it. That is, to deny the law of noncontradiction is to allow that it is both true and […]
November 17, 2015 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on CfP: Graduate Conference on Logic and Language at UoC
5th Annual Graduate Conference: Logic & Language Department of Philosophy University of Calgary May 27–28, 2016 The theme of the 2016 University of Calgary Graduate Philosophy Conference will be Logic and Language. Topics at the intersection of philosophy of language and (philosophy of) logic have a long and fruitful history, and continue to be at […]
October 2, 2018 by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc
Comments Off on Frege and Hume at Thanksgiving