Workshop Concept Formation in Mathematics and the Sciences

Idea and Motivation

Concept formation is a central topic in the philosophy of science. This workshop focuses on the notion of explication as introduced by Rudolf Carnap—a systematic replacement of vague or pre-scientific terms with more precise and formally well-defined concepts. Carnap, a key figure of the Vienna Circle, viewed explication as a methodological tool to strengthen scientific language and promote the unification of the sciences.
The goal of the workshop is to explore concept formation processes across various disciplines, mainly focusing on mathematics. While fields such as theoretical physics and mathematics are often regarded as linguistically precise—and thus seemingly outside the traditional scope of Carnap’s explication—one could argue that even mathematical concepts undergo significant conceptual change.
This perspective opens up new connections between philosophy of language, logic, philosophy of mathematics, and other philosophical and scientific disciplines.

Invited Speakers

• Rachel Boddy (IUSS Pavia)
• Caterina Del Sordo
• Deborah Kant (Universität Hamburg)
• Silvia Ivani (University College Dublin)
• Fenner Tanswell (TU Berlin)
• José Antonio Pérez-Escobar (UNED, Madrid)
• Jordi Fairhurst Chilton (Universitat de les Illes Balears)

Program

TBA

Abstracts

TBA

 Organizers

• Jonas Raab (LMU/MCMP)

• Deniz Sarikaya (Universität zu Lübeck & Vrije Universiteit Brussels) 

Registration

To register send a short email with your name and (if any affiliation) to: d (.) sarikaya (at) uni (-) luebeck (.) de and j (.) raab (at) lmu (.) de with the subject line "concept workshop". You should receive a confirmation of participation within 24 hours.

Venue

MCMP, Ludwigstr. 31, 80539 Munich, room 021.

Aknowledgement

The workshop is generously co-funded by 

Gesellschaft für analytische Philosophie.