Seminar: Theory Research Group: The Logic of Where and While in the 13th and 14th (and 21st) Centuries

25 September 2018

Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm
Venue: ITL 1st floor meeting room

Title: The Logic of Where and While in the 13th and 14th (and 21st) Centuries

Speaker: Sara Uckelman

Host: Andrew Lewis-Smith and Nikos Tzevelekos
http://theory.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/seminars/

Abstract

Medieval analyses of molecular propositions include many non-truthfunctional connectives in addition to the standard modern binary connectives (conjunction, disjunction, and conditional). Two
types of non-truthfunctional molecular propositions considered by a number of 13th- and 14th-century authors are temporal and local propositions, which combine atomic propositions with ‘while’ and ‘where’. Despite modern interest in the historical roots of temporal and tense logic, medieval analyses of ‘while’ propositions are rarely discussed in modern literature, and analyses of ‘where’ propositions are almost completely overlooked. In this talk we introduce 13th- and 14th-century views on temporal and local propositions, and connect the medieval theories with modern temporal and spatial counterparts.

*Directions*

Queen Mary is on Mile End Road, with nearest tube stations being Stepney Green (closest one to the seminars) and Mile End. The seminars are in the Informatics Teaching Laboratory, floor 1:

As the building has card access, it is best to inform us that you will be coming (nikos.tzevelekos@qmul.ac.uk).