Monthly Archives: January 2010

KCL

Posted on January 29, 2010

The word has got around quickly of tough times ahead for philosophy at KCL. Quoting the letter of vigorous protest from the UCL philosophy department, which you can read in full in the comments here,  ”Prof Shalom Lappin and Dr … Continue reading →

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There’s Something about Gödel, Ch. 12

Posted on January 28, 2010

I’ve been distracted by various things (including preparing talks/lectures for my upcoming NZ trip): but at last it’s time to get back to thinking about Francesco Berto’s book. The last chapter is called “Gödel versus Wittgenstein and the Paraconsistent Interpretation”. … Continue reading →

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Planet de Botton

Posted on January 22, 2010

I’m all for popularizing philosophy in the right kind of way, and admire — not to say envy — the likes of A.C. Grayling and my colleague Simon Blackburn for their prose styles, their immense energy, good sense, ability to … Continue reading →

Posted in Rants | 22 Comments

Gödel Without Tears — 10

Posted on January 22, 2010

There are slightly revised versions of the episodes on the First Incompleteness Theorem and the Diagonalization Lemma now online. And there is a cheeringly short episode on The Second Theorem, newly added. (As before, you can download the latest versions … Continue reading →

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Routledge go mad

Posted on January 19, 2010

I have on my desk my copy of Hartley Rogers’s wonderful Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability. I’ve been checking my memory that he says that, for effective computability, the steps in a particular algorithm must be idiot-proof at … Continue reading →

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On a winter’s afternoon, the charm of a bookshop

Posted on January 18, 2010

Not my photo, I should add: but I couldn’t resist posting it here.

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Gödel Without Tears — 9

Posted on January 18, 2010

There’s a slightly extended version of the treatment of the First Incompleteness Theorem now online, with a short section added about the historically first First Theorem. And newly added is an episode on The Diagonalization Lemma, also covering Rosser’s and … Continue reading →

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Standing in King’s Parade, tearing up tenners

Posted on January 11, 2010

I had to go along  to a meeting today, ostensibly about the future of funding for graduate students. It lasted an hour, though it was fortunately held just fifteen minutes away. Still, that’s an hour-and-a-half out of my life. There … Continue reading →

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What’s it all about then?

Posted on January 10, 2010

I’ve one more chapter of Berto’s Gödel book to comment on here, which I’ll do very shortly, and I mean to get back to the rest of Franks’s The Autonomy of Mathematical Knowledge (I got rather stuck on Franks’s tussle … Continue reading →

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