José Antonio Pérez Escobar: Beyond structural intuitions in the applicability of mathematics

Tuesday November 14 2023 @12:00 (CEST)
Sala B, Edificio de Humanidades, UNED & online

Abstract
The “unreasonable effectiveness” of mathematics in science is still an enigma that, despite considerable philosophical efforts, remains unsolved. Our most refined accounts, the mapping and inferential approaches to the applicability of mathematics, rely on a structural image of mathematics: Mathematics is effective in describing, predicting and explaining empirical phenomena because it either closely mirrors or structurally approximates empirical structures. The goal of this talk is to further account for the applicability of mathematics by showing how, in practice, structural intuitions coexist with another image of mathematics based on rules and rule-following. I will discuss mathematical and scientific practices where the latter image of mathematics is at the base of its applicability and renders it “reasonably effective”.

Bio
José Antonio Pérez Escobar is a postdoctoral researcher at Paris Sciences et Lettres University with a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. His academic background spans both science (psychology, neuroscience) and philosophy (philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of biology, later Wittgenstein).