Cultures of Mathematics and Logic

Description of the conference Mathematics and formal reasoning are fundamental building blocks of knowledge, essential for science, technology, policy-making and risk-management. Mathematical practice is a rich phenomenon of human activity, with subtle differences between various cultures: here, the word culture can refer to national cultures, but also cultural differences in different historical periods, in different strata of a given society, in different social settings.

And yet, the public perception of mathematics is of an apersonal subject with little or no human interaction, based on a false picture of a science of pure thought and deduction, with almost no interaction or visible activity.

In a move away from these traditionalist positions, philosophers and social scientists have recently become more interested in studying mathematical and logical practice, or, to be precise, different mathematical and logical practices. Our conference will focus on this plurality of viewpoints, studying the various cultures of mathematics and logic, and involve several disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, cognitive science, history of mathematics, mathematics education, and linguistics.

Programme committee Mihir Chakraborty, Jadavpur University, India; Shuchun Guo, Chinese Academy of Science, China; Joachim Kurtz, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany; Brendan Larvor, University of Hartfordshire, United Kingdom; Benedikt Löwe, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Martina Merz, Universität Luzern, Switzerland; Dirk Schlimm, McGill University, Canada; Ju Shier, Sun Yat-sen University, China

Local information Guangzhou, known historically as Canton, is located in southern China on the Pearl River, about 120 km north-northwest of Hong Kong. With over 12 million inhabitants, it is the third largest city in China (after Shanghai and Beijing) and the largest city of southern China. In the month of November, expected temperatures are between 15 and 24 degrees. Baiyun International Airport is a major transportation hub with many national and international airlines (for instance, Air France, China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Lufthansa, etc.). In addition, Guangzhou is easy to reach from Hong Kong with its international airport.