EPiC Meeting

Friday, November 27, 2015

Dante Diotallevi will be presenting at the EPiC meeting this week, scheduled for Friday the 27th from 12:30-2:00pm, in Watson 208. The title and abstract for the talk is:

"Patterns in Thinking: Reasons for Philosophical Research"

The value of philosophy, according to Bertrand Russell, lies in its uncertainty: "as soon as definite knowledge concerning any subject becomes possible, this subject ceases to be called philosophy, and becomes a separate science." (The Value of Philosophy, ch. XV).  As under-labourers, philosophers carry the burdens of uncertainty that other disciplines simply ignore.  Only those who deal with waste are so keenly aware of the widespread decadence!  Philosophical research, if it's possible, must be a kind of salvaging.  The depths of uncertainty promise no method but there are reasons to persist.  We know that mathematics has guided philosophers in the past, both the ancient Greeks and the early-moderns.  It is true that the basic patterns (arithmetic, geometry) have a curious integrity that appears to be unchanging.  If this is of any consequence for the modern philosopher, it is because the various sciences no longer study these patterns or have thrown them aside as meaningless.