Notes on Tarskian consequence with some exercises on logical equivalence
Logic 08/03/2016
Notes on the fundamental representation principles of classical logic and a little extra on many-valued logics (not an examinable part of the notes) useful for Module 3
2(+2) year Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Department of Philosophy and the Centre for the Study of Social Action (CSSA) at the University of Milan are delighted to announce the opening of a post-doctoral position on Acting Together: Coordination, Collective Goals, and Cooperation. The project, which is jointly led by Professors Hykel Hosni and Corrado Sinigaglia, spans formal and experimental methods and will put particular emphasis on minimalist approaches to coordination, shared agency, and cooperation.
Applicants are expected to have a strong inclination for interdisciplinary work and the potential for excellence in research and publications. There are no restrictions on the applicants’ PhD background, provided it’s relevant to the topic of the project. The appointment will be made initially for two years and it will be renewed for another two years subject to funding. After tax salary will be in the region of 20.000 Euros per year.
The fellow will be a member of the Center for the Study of Social Action and will participate in the wider research community of the Department of Philosophy, the second largest in the country. While the postdoctoral fellow will pursue sound philosophical research, the project is ideally suited to interdisciplinary collaboration with cognitive scientists, economists, mathematical and computational logicians.
The deadline for application is April 26th 2016. We refer potential applicants to the official call for applications. The application form is available here.
Note to non-Italian applicants. Please do not be discouraged by the “Call for application” document applying is a lot easier than it seems! You will need to attach
- a brief research proposal related to the topic of the project
- a detailed CV (highlighting your scientific achievements)
- an abstract of your PhD thesis (draft is OK if you haven’t defended yet)
- relevant publications
Informal enquiries on the nature of project and the application procedure are welcome.
Logic 02/03/2016
Notes and exercises for the lecture
Presentation of the first module
Slides introducing the First Module of (Logic LM 2015-16): Non monotonic logics Please note that the slides are not suitable for printing. If you really need a printable version, do let me know.
Presentation of the Logic course
Slides introducing the Introduction to non-classical logics course (Logica LM 2015-16). Please note that the slides are not suitable for printing. If you really need a printable version, do let me know.
Sex and the Climate
Originally published in The Reasoner Volume 10, Number 3 – March 2016
Hard-to-quantify (aka “severe”, “deep”, “Knightian”, etc.) uncertainty is a major concern both for theorists and practitioners of decision-making. Over the past few years our urgent need to understand and manage this kind of uncertainty has been argued for mainly with reference to the disastrous consequences of the financial crisis, natural disasters, terrorism, and similarly dreadful phenomena which often make the global headlines. David Spiegelhalter in his 2015 book Sex by Numbers: What Statistics Can Tell Us About Sexual Behaviour, tackles the problems of reasoning, decision, and policy-making under typically unreliable statistical data from a decidedly less negative angle. Spiegelhalter is Winton Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, and author of the Understanding Uncertainty blog. The book has been commissioned by Wellcome Collection and published with Profile Books. It is based on three large surveys done in 1990, 2000 and 2010 by the British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL), and which are believed to constitute be largest scientific study of sex in the world to date. The volume is complemented by the interactive Sex by Numbers Infographic which sums up, in style, some of the central findings of the study.
Uncertainty, rationality, probability. And beyond
Seminari di filosofia del linguaggio e della mente
Lunedì 22 febbraio 2016, ore 10.30-12.30.
Sala Enzo Paci, Direzione del Dipartimento di Filosofia
Via Festa del Perdono 7, Milano
Abstract:
This seminar presents an informal and rather biased selection of key research topics in the foundations of uncertain reasoning. It consists of four parts. First, I will recall that uncertainty must be taken seriously, and suggest how we might go about making useful distinctions regarding its meaning. Second, I will point out how rationality comes in very handy when we must face “decision-relevant uncertainty”. Third, I will illustrate why, under certain conditions, the rational reaction to uncertainty must be probabilistic. In the fourth, and final part, I will discuss why probability is not quite telling us the last word on rational reasoning under uncertainty.
Getting to the bottom of Bayes…
Originally published in The Reasoner Volume 10, Number 2 – February 2016
The Cross-Check blog of the Scientific American, published recently a post titled Bayes’s Theorem: What’s the Big Deal?
From the social media, to rather specialised mailing lists, this piece has clearly reached a considerably wide public. Indeed chances are that you have already come across it. If you haven’t, here’s a quick fix, for the subtitle really says it all: “Bayes’s theorem, touted as a powerful method for generating knowledge, can also be used to promote superstition and pseudoscience.”
So, yes, this is yet another piece discussing, with splendid shallowness, why so many seemingly learned people call themselves Bayesians, and why equally learned masses get offended by the label. The stated goal is clarificatory: “the Bayes fever has become too pervasive to ignore”, so the author takes upon himself the burden “to get to the bottom of Bayes, once and for all”. I refer the interested reader to the original post to find out how the bottom of Bayes ultimately looks like.
Le direzioni della ricerca logica in Italia
OUT NOW!
Le direzioni della ricerca logica in Italia
a cura di Hykel Hosni, Gabriele Lolli e Carlo Toffalori, CRM Series, Edizioni della Normale, pp. XIV-314, 2015. 29 Euro
l volume raccoglie le conferenze, con alcune aggiunte, tenute nella sessione speciale dal medesimo titolo del Venticinquesimo incontro dell’Associazione Italiana di Logica e sue Applicazioni il 17 aprile 2014
Contributi di:
A. Andretta, A. Berarducci-C. Toffalori, F. Cardone, M. D’Agostino, P.L. Ferrari-G. Gerla, V. Marra-F. Montagna-L. Spada, S. Negri, G, Sambin, G. Sartor
Acquista direttamente dalle Edizioni della Normale