The first half of our Alan Turing Centenary lecture series is over, and we've got all three of our talks up on mathtube.org.  You can skip the first one, it's pretty boring, but Mike Williams on early computers and John Ferris on Turing and WWII codebreaking are well worth your time!

It's Alan Turing's centenary, and we've been celebrating it at the University of Calgary with a series of lectures.  This term, we've had a talk on the decision problem, one (by Mike Williams) on Turing and early electronic comupters, and one coming up on March 27, by John Ferris, on Alan Turing and codebreaking in … Continue reading Alan Turing Year in Calgary

Been waiting a while for this to become official, which it now is: we're hiring. In case you don't know, the CRC program is Canada's effort to attract outstanding foreigntalent to Canada. So there is no preference for Canadians, you get atop-up to your salary, and the teaching load is 1-1.  Tier I Canada Research … Continue reading Senior Position in Logic and Philosophy of Science at Calgary!

Ruth Barcan Marcus died February 19. She was a towering figure in philosophical logic in the latter half of the 20th century.  She initiated the study of quantified modal logic in her 1946 JSL paper, "A functional calculus of first order based on strict implication".  Facing strong opposition from Quine, who thought quantified modal logic … Continue reading Ruth Barcan Marcus, 1921-2012

We got a 1-year job for you! The Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary invites applications for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship starting on September 1, 2012. The area of specialization is logic or the philosophy of science. The fellow will be expected to have a well-defined research project, teach up to one course … Continue reading Postdoc in Logic or Philosophy of Science

The title essay of Quine's The Ways of Paradox was originally published in the Scientific American 206 (April 1962). Retrodigitized back issues of the Scientific American are now available (for free, it seems) on the website of Nature.  You can now read Quine's classic essay in its full original glory, complete with neat illustrations such … Continue reading Illustrated Ways of Paradox Complete with 1960’s Ads

Thanks to Daniel Weller

Ernst Specker died on December 10, in Zurich.  He is most well-known for his work on Quine's New Foundations and the Kochen-Specker Theorem in quantum mechanics. He made significant contributions to many other areas of logic, as well as algebra, topology, and combinatorics. Specker's MacTutor biography.

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Two interesting new entries in the Stanford Encyclopedia: Philosophy of Linguistics, by Barbara C. Scholz, Francis Jeffry Pelletier, and Geoffrey K. Pullum Montague Semantics, by Theo M. V. Janssen

The first annual conference of the Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy will be held at McMaster University, Hamilton (Canada) 24-26 May 2012. Invited Speakers Michael Friedman (Stanford University)Paolo Mancosu (University of California, Berkeley)Thomas Uebel (University of Manchester) Canadian Student Presenters Travel Bursaries SSHAP will be offering up to 10 travel … Continue reading CfP: Mind, Language and Cognition: Historical Perspectives.

From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal:

The Vienna University of Technology is looking to recruit one Postdoctoral Research Assistant to work on the FWF-funded project "Nonclassical Proofs: theory, applications and tools", under the direction of Agata Ciabattoni. The work will take place within the Institute of Computer Languages (Theory and Logic group) of the Vienna University of Technology. The post is … Continue reading Postdoc in Proof Theory in Vienna

Phil Serchuk's paper (with Ian Hargreaves and me) describing some experimental philosophy of logic he did when he was writing his undergrad thesis with me back in '05 is now out in Mind and Language.  It's a response to a 1999 paper by Tim Williamson together with psychologists Bonini, Osherson, and Viale, and we also … Continue reading Four Experimental Studies on Vagueness

My "boss" on the Carnap Edition project, Richard Creath, has a new entry on Logical Empiricism for the Stanford Encyclopedia.

Everyone should read this new entry in the SEP.  Emily Elizabeth Constance Jones (1848–1922), a contemporary of Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore at Cambridge University, worked primarily in philosophical logic and ethics. Her most significant contribution to the former area is her application of the intension-extension distinction to singular terms, anticipating Frege's related distinction … Continue reading E. E. C. Jones in the SEP

The Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary invites applications for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship starting on September 1, 2011. The area of specialization is logic or the philosophy of science. The fellow will be expected to have a well-defined research project, teach one course in the area of specialization, and participate in the … Continue reading Postdoc in Logic/Philosophy of Science at Calgary

The AGM Theory of Belief Revision was 25 years old last year, and the JPL has a special anniversary issue on it.

The Swedish Academy awarded the 2011 Rolf Schock Prize to Hilary Putnam "for his contribution to the understanding of semantics for theoretical and ‘natural kind’ terms, and of the implications of this semantics for philosophy, theory of knowledge, philosophy of science and metaphysics". Here's the citation: Hilary Putnam is one of the most versatile philosophers … Continue reading Hilary Putnam Awarded 2011 Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy