The Middle of Things

Episodes

1. 4

   4: Benacerraf's Dilemma, part 2

   Building on Boghossian's defense of implicit definition and epistemic analyticity, we explored the prospects for some kind of realism in the philosophy of mathematics. Main reading: Paul Benacerraf and Hilary Putnam, "Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Readings"…

   more
   Apr 10, 2018

   1 hr 49 min
2. 3

   3: Benacerraf's Dilemma, part 1

   Building on Boghossian's defense of implicit definition and epistemic analyticity, we explored the prospects for some kind of realism in the philosophy of mathematics. Main reading: Paul Benacerraf and Hilary Putnam, "Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Readings"…

   more
   Apr 10, 2018

   1 hr 34 min
3. 2

   2: Stipulating Analyticity

   In the first episode, we concluded that Jackson's metaphysics by conceptual analysis would ultimately rest on at least a partial rehabilitation of analyticity. In consideration of our prospects, we read a thorough and very historically informed defense of analyticity against Quine's challenge.…

   more
   Dec 15, 2017

   2 hr 19 min
4. 1

   1: Armchair Metaphysics

   In this first episode we discussed whether there is prospect for conceptual analysis in metaphysics. Rather than begin with an examination of first principles, we began in the middle of things, but after an ascent into meta-philosophy. Main reading: Frank Jackson, "Armchair Metaphysics",...

   Jul 1, 2017

   1 hr 44 min