Philosophy 290-3

The infinite is, quite appropriately, a never ending source of philosophical puzzlement. The earliest pre-Socratic fragments already engage with it and the contemporary discussion on the topic is as lively as ever. While mathematics (which Hermann Weyl once defined as “the science of the infinite”) has provided us with wonderful tools to tame the infinite, philosophical puzzles persist. In the seminar we will cover a variety of topics concerning infinity ranging from Greek philosophy (Aristotle, Philoponus) and modern philosophy and mathematics (Kant, Bolzano, Cantor), to contemporary philosophy and recent developments in mathematics (higher reaches of set theory, non-Archimedean continua, non-Archimedean probability theory, theories of numerosities) and cosmology (cosmic topology).