Ibn Sina and Bolzano: Two Contingent Arguments. The Logic and Religion Webinar, Jun 9

Francisco de Assis Mariano

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Jun 7, 2022, 12:39:05 PM6/7/22

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Dear Colleague,

You are invited to participate in the next session of the Logic and Religion Webinar Series which will be held on Jun 9, 2022, at 4pm CET with the topic:

IBN SINA & BOLZANO: TWO CONTINGENT ARGUMENTS

Speaker: Kordula Świętorzecka (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland) and Michał Pawłowski and Bartosz Wesół (University of Warsaw, Poland).

Chair: Marcin Trepczyński (University of Warsaw, Poland).

Please register in advance!

https://www.logicandreligion.com/webinars

Abstract: In 2014, Petr Dvořák put forward a hypothesis about structural convergence of two cosmological arguments: by Avicenna and Bolzano. Indeed, both arguments are based on the notion of the whole (totum) of all contingent/conditioned individuals, different from the notion of the classical set containing them. However, the authors differ in their attitude to the impossibility of regress ad infinitum. Our goal is to reconstruct Avicenna's argument on the basis of modern unitary theory of sets and individuals and compare this reconstruction with the Bolzano’s argument already expressed in the same formal frame. The lecture will be followed by the talk "God and Timeless Cognition", by Michał Pawłowski and Bartosz Wesół, the winners of the second Kurt Gödel Award 2021.

With best wishes,

Francisco de Assis Mariano

The University of Missouri-Columbia

LARA Secretary

Jeffrey Rubard

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Jun 21, 2022, 5:14:37 PM6/21/22

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...but are they two contingent arguments that go great together?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 11, 2022, 9:04:47 PM8/11/22

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They didn't know each other, right?
"Let me check."

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 13, 2022, 7:25:22 PM8/13/22

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"They didn't."
I guess!

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 15, 2022, 4:35:56 PM8/15/22

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Because they lived at different times, right? Ibn Sina and Bernhard Bolzano not on the planet together, right?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 17, 2022, 7:27:01 PM8/17/22

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"They both lived on planet Earth."
Now we're getting somewhere!

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 18, 2022, 4:15:03 PM8/18/22

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"They were philosophers of science and logic."
I think this is better known about Ibn Sina than Bolzano, actually!

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 19, 2022, 2:11:44 PM8/19/22

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"You are wrong."
This work has involved a careful comparative study of their respective historical influence, then?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 20, 2022, 6:26:38 PM8/20/22

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"It hasn't."
I "bullshit" about things I don't know about sometimes, too.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 21, 2022, 11:58:35 AM8/21/22

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"Who was Bolzano?"
A mathematician who also wrote an early book on the philosophy of science.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 21, 2022, 5:48:29 PM8/21/22

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"So he didn't know Ibn Sina?"
They didn't live at the same time in history. Bolzano was presumably aware of his works.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 22, 2022, 10:03:00 PM8/22/22

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"Did Bolzano ever travel to the United States?"
I don't believe so.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 23, 2022, 2:50:43 PM8/23/22

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"Did Ibn Sina ever travel to the United States?"
They called that "beggaring belief", once.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 23, 2022, 3:34:10 PM8/23/22

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"Well, what does that tell you?"
Yeah yeah, ad nauseam "figuring it out".
It tells me that people really do not understand the "compass" which includes both Ibn Sina and the United States,
to wit world history.
"What about Bolzano?"
I said world history, not European history.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 24, 2022, 11:53:19 AM8/24/22

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"What's the diff?"
Does "diff" mean something different than "difference"?
"Maybe."
The idea would be that people might make up "fables" sometimes, or maybe they wouldn't.
"The idea?"

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 24, 2022, 5:19:00 PM8/24/22

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"You seem to have derailed."
Was there a lot of continuous, correct, useful inference to do here?
"Maybe."
Maybe not.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 25, 2022, 8:41:32 PM8/25/22

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"Anyhow, about Avicenna and Bolzano..."
What are your thoughts about them, then?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 26, 2022, 8:37:31 PM8/26/22

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"Whom do you like better?"
Those would be *my* thoughts, wouldn't they?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 27, 2022, 6:16:08 PM8/27/22

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"Have you read them both?"
I believe I've read a bit of Bolzano, and actually none of Ibn Sina. Have you read both?
("Click" sound)

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 28, 2022, 12:29:35 PM8/28/22

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"Are you calling me a liar?"
How do you figure that? I was just asking if you were familiar with the work of both Ibn Sina and Bolzano.
I'm not.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 28, 2022, 7:03:48 PM8/28/22

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"Who do you think would win a fight between them?"
Um... Bolzano? That almost makes more sense, comparatively, than the other "inanities" you could say about this juxtaposition.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Aug 28, 2022, 7:37:27 PM8/28/22

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"What about Averroes and Frege? How about comparing them?"
Hey, let's not make life "all complicated" for these people, okay?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 4, 2022, 6:30:11 PM9/4/22

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"'These people'? Do you mean homosexuals?"
Um, no. No I do not.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 6, 2022, 5:31:07 PM9/6/22

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"That's a non sequitur."
You're right, you're right about that.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 10, 2022, 6:54:20 PM9/10/22

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"Am I?"
Sure. Sure you are.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 10, 2022, 7:15:39 PM9/10/22

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"You're 'reading in' to what I'm saying here."
Okay. Sure, I could see how that could be.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 14, 2022, 11:43:33 AM9/14/22

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They were, at any rate, different people.
"???"

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 15, 2022, 4:49:42 PM9/15/22

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They lived at different times in human history.
"Their lives didn't overlap at all?"
No, no they didn't.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 16, 2022, 6:09:02 PM9/16/22

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"And Ibn Sina was Islamic and Bolzano was..."
Bolzano was Bolzano.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 17, 2022, 5:56:44 PM9/17/22

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"They were real people, weren't they?"
They aren't recorded as being insincere, no.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Sep 29, 2022, 4:19:07 PM9/29/22

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"I mean, they weren't made up, right? They weren't hoaxes?"
I believe they are both known to be actual historical individuals, yes.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 9, 2022, 5:32:57 PM10/9/22

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"You believe they were actual persons?"
I'm not the world's top expert on Ibn Sina and Bolzano, they could have been somehow more "vacuous" pen-names, but yes, I think they are "reputed" to be actual people.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 10, 2022, 4:52:54 PM10/10/22

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"What if they weren't?"
Are you sure you're not just "quibbling" here?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 11, 2022, 3:31:37 PM10/11/22

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"Do you suppose Bolzano was more scientific, then?"
Wow, that'd be kind of a non sequitur, one "in line" with conventional wisdom about the work of Bolzano. But, yes.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 12, 2022, 4:21:23 PM10/12/22

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"Are you Islamic?"
No, no I'm not.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 15, 2022, 7:55:42 PM10/15/22

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"We're all pretty sure of that, right?"

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 16, 2022, 5:33:51 PM10/16/22

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"Why wouldn't we be?"

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 18, 2022, 3:37:07 PM10/18/22

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I don't know, Islamic people don't "look a certain way"?

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 19, 2022, 6:59:21 PM10/19/22

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Did he write "Incoherence of the Incoherence"?
"No, that was Averroes."

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 20, 2022, 9:08:18 PM10/20/22

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"You mean Avicenna."
Well, no, Averroes wrote that. I suppose it "refers back" to Avicenna rather than Bolzano, though.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 22, 2022, 6:09:54 PM10/22/22

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"Yeah, like Bolzano would 'fux with'... gimme a sec..."
Nah, I think we're at a good stopping-place.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 25, 2022, 4:36:02 PM10/25/22

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"We're cool?"

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 25, 2022, 10:23:17 PM10/25/22

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Stay sane, everybody.

Jeffrey Rubard

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Oct 28, 2022, 7:04:52 PM10/28/22

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Is it a deal?