The FilMat network is now promoting its first Graduate Conference, Philosophy of Mathematics: History, Theories and Practice, that will take place on July 13-14, 2017 at University of Trento.

Conference website

Please, visit the conference website for the call for papers, the program, directions to University of Trento, and for suggestions of suitable accommodations.

The FilMat network is proud to announce the publication of its first official volume in the Springer’s series Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science:

Objectivity, Realism and Proof. FilMat Studies in the Philosophy of Mathematics (eds. Francesca Boccuni, Andrea Sereni)

Here you can find the online version with some free content available, while here you can find the hardback and ebook edition on sale. You can have a glimpse at the content here, by checking out the freely available content (including, Preface, Table of Contents, Introduction, and the “In memoriam of Aldo Antonelli” contribution by Andrew Arana and Curtis Franks)

We wish to thank all the contributing authors, and, once more, we are honored to be hosting one of the most recent contributions by Aldo Antonelli, and we are grateful to all those who made possible to pay due homage to his memory and his work.

The FilMat network is pleased to announce its second international conference,  Philosophy of mathematics: truth, existence, and explanation that will take place on May 26-28 2016 in Chieti at the University of Chieti-Pescara.

Conference website

Please, visit the conference website for the call for papers, the program, directions to University of Chieti-Pescara, and for suggestions of suitable accommodations.

The FilMat network is now promoting its second international conference, Philosophy of mathematics: truth, existence and explanation, that will take place on May 26-28, 2016 at University of Chieti-Pescara.

Conference website

Please, visit the conference website for the call for papers, the program, directions to University of Chieti-Pescara, and for suggestions of suitable accommodations.

We were profoundly sad to learn the Aldo Antonelli prematurely passed away on October 11, 2015. He was the nicest person and an outstanding philosopher of mathematics and logic. 

We at the FilMat Network are extremely indebted to him for his precious participation to our first conference and for his continuous support to our activities. It is a great loss for all of us.

***

Gian Aldo Antonelli received his undergraduate degree (Laurea) from the University of Turin in 1986, at the age of 24. In the course of his studies, he wrote a thesis on the philosophy of language, supervised by Diego Marconi, and at the same time developed a keen interest in mathematical logic, thanks in part to his teacher Gabriele Lolli. After a brief period at Olivetti, he decided to pursue a course of graduate education in philosophy and logic in the U.S.A. He subsequently received his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 1992, under the supervision of Nuel Belnap, with a dissertation on non-monotonic logics. He went on to teach at various universities in Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Yale, Stanford, Michigan, UC Irvine, and UC Davis. During the period 2004-2006, he returned to Italy to direct the Rome/Siena Study Center of the University of California.

He is the author of an impressive number of scholarly articles, many in the leading international journals of logic and philosophy of logic and mathematics, including the Journal of Symbolic Logic, the Journal of Philosophy, the Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, Philosophia Mathematica, and Synthese. He was an active member of the Association of Symbolic Logic and a founder of its most recent journal, the Review of Symbolic Logic. He also helped to found (with great passion and commitment) the Italian network for the philosophy of mathematics, FilMat.

He contributed significantly to the study of non-monotonic and free logics, as well as that of generalized quantifiers and the axiomatization of game theory. He also contributed significantly to the revitalization of Frege’s program for the foundations of arithmetic. His article “Frege’s Other Program” (Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 2005), written with his friend and colleague Robert May, remains essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how arithmetic could be grounded on a theory of concepts using an extension of second-order logic. He did not, however, embrace the neo-logicist perspective.

Discussing logic and philosophy with him was an enormous pleasure. He knew how to focus on what was essential, with the clarity of someone who could master intricate technicalities at a glance, but to move beyond this technical understanding, though using it, when necessary, as a means to explain and describe. He was never satisfied with an answer until he had completely understood the underlying problem in all its detail.

Aldo was sincere and generous with his time and his knowledge. He was also affectionate and calm, witty, and always a genuine friend. A short while ago, he realized a long-held dream of owning a white, powerful Moto Guzzi motor-bike, of which he was very proud and with which he was looking forward to exploring California and places beyond. He moved to UC Davis to be close to his partner, with whom he shared his passion for philosophy of mathematics and logic.

Aldo’s zest for life, his will to understand, his teaching, his desire to help others become better teachers, and the nature of his friendship, will all be remembered. We pass on our sincere condolences to his partner, Elaine, and to his brother David, sons Federico and Riccardo, and their mother Giovanna Fogli.