Timothy Williamson: Logic, Science, and Metaphysics

PETRUS HISPANUS LECTURES 2012

TIMOTHY WILLIAMSON
Wykeham Professor of Logic
University of Oxford

LOGIC, SCIENCE, AND METAPHYSICS

5 and 6 June 2012, 11:00
Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon
Room: Anfiteatro 4

Lecture 1: Logics as Scientific Theories
The similarities between logic and other branches of science are
usually underestimated. Like other scientific theories, logics can be
compared and assessed abductively in terms of their simplicity,
strength, elegance, and consistency with what is already known.
Tarski’s definition of logical truth provides a suitable standard of
correctness for them to aim at. Such an account can avoid the
objectionable features of Quine’s holism.

Lecture 2: Modal Logic as Metaphysics
The second lecture is a case study of the methodology described in the
first, applied to modal logic with a metaphysical interpretation of
the modal operators. Some consequences will be drawn out for possible
worlds model theory and the question of whether there could have been
things that do not actually exist. The relevance of higher-order modal
logic for these issues will also be explained.

The Petrus Hispanus Lectures are delivered every other academic year
at the University of Lisbon by a leading figure in current research
about the nature of mind, cognition and language. Previous Petrus
Hispanus Lecturers: Hilary Putnam, Daniel Dennett, Richard Jeffrey,
Ned Block, David Kaplan, Tyler Burge.