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PRODID:-//Grails iCalendar plugin//NONSGML Grails iCalendar plugin//EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260609T155222Z
DTSTART;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20180608T070000
DTEND;TZID=Australia/Melbourne:20180608T090000
SUMMARY:When Freedom Becomes a Liability -- Reflections on the Variable
UID:20260611T110829Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-bd7db559-gt5qm
TZID:Australia/Melbourne
LOCATION:Arts West\, Parkville\, Australia\, 3010
DESCRIPTION:<p>Kai Wehmeier (Irvine) will present "When Freedom Becomes a Liability -- Reflections on the Variable" at 11 in Arts West 561 North Wing on 8 June.</p>\n<p>Abstract: Michael Dummett\, in his magisterial exposition of Frege's theory of&nbsp\;quantification (Dummett 1973: chapter 2)\, makes a somewhat surprising&nbsp\;claim about the role of free variables in the now standard\, Tarskian&nbsp\;account of predicate logic: "'Free variables' are merely a convenient&nbsp\;notational device which simplifies the statement of the formation&nbsp\;rules: they correspond to no type of expression for which there is any&nbsp\;need in a language actually in functional use (...)" (p. 18). This&nbsp\;might seem surprising because mainstream linguistic semantics&nbsp\;typically assumes that deictic or referential pronouns in&nbsp\;English---certainly "a language actually in functional use"---are free&nbsp\;variables in Tarski's sense. And if Dummett is wrong about free&nbsp\;variables\, it seems that Tarski's account of the logical form of&nbsp\;quantification is indeed superior to Frege's\, which has no place for&nbsp\;free variables. I will argue not only that Dummett is in fact right\,&nbsp\;but also that Tarski's trick of allowing free occurrences of variables&nbsp\;in order to simplify predicate-logical syntax has led us down the&nbsp\;garden path in the semantics of formal and natural languages\, with&nbsp\;adverse consequences in the philosophy of language.</p>
ORGANIZER;CN=Shawn Standefer:
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