Philosophy of Mathematics seminar

Sorin Bangu, Bergen and Oxford

Two dualisms in later Wittgenstein's writings on mathematics 

The first dualism is methodological, and has to do with the analogy Wittgenstein announces in part II of Philosophical Investigations (PI), remark xiv: "An investigation is possible in connexion with mathematics which is entirely analogous to our investigation of psychology." The second dualism appears in the Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics (Part IV, §21), where he speaks about "the twofold character of the mathematical sentence - as law and as rule." The aim of the talk is to unpack these remarks, as well as to show their relation to the radical goal of his philosophical project, namely "that the philosophical problems should completely disappear" (PI §133) - in this case, philosophical problems about mathematics.