P h i l o s o p h y o f S c i e n c e C o l l o q u i u m
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
Room 6.54 (6th floor) Monday 4:00 PM
Pázmány P. sétány 1/A Budapest, Hungary
Phone/Fax: (36-1) 372 2924
PROGRAM
S e p t e m b e r 2003
22 September 4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54
F r a n c i s P a s c a l O' G o r m a n
Department of Philosophy
National University of Ireland, Galway
Philosophy of Mathematics: Poincare's challenge
Frequently we find brief references to similarities between Poincare's
and the later Wittgenstein's philosophies of arithmetic. Inthis paper we
attempt to systematically exploresome of these similarities.In partcular
we look at Poincare's opposition to the logicist programme and his
rejection of Cantorian infinity and compare his theses to those of the
later Wittgenstein.
29 September 4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54
K a r l H a l l
Department of History
Central European University, Budapest
Socialist Realist Physics: Lev Landau's Principled Phenomenology
"The electron does not tolerate bureaucratism," senior Soviet physicists
assured their technocratic patrons during Stalin's headlong
industrialization campaign in the late 1920s. Research programs
oriented toward Socialist Construction placed Soviet theoretical
physicists in particular on the defensive. The young theorist Lev
Landau deftly steered between engineering imperatives and the longing
for a unifying mathematical lever to move the world that he blithely
dismissed as "Einsteinkrankheit." His peculiar brand of "Socialist
Realist" physics, forged in the crucible of Stalinist culture,
eventually enabled him to solve the strangest physics problem of his
day: superfluidity in helium.
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The 60-minute lecture is followed by a 10-minute break. Then we hold a
30-60-minute discussion. The participants may comment on the talks and
are encouraged to initiate discussion through the Internet. The
comments should be written in the language of the presentation.
The organizer of the seminar: Miklós (email: redei(a)hps.elte.hu)
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