No wonder philosophical concepts require approved progress in today’s calculative world. To figure out this concept Coursera is lining up another online course “Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy” in collaboration with Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich.

Since ancient past, philosophers are questioning the foundations of physical world about our everyday experience, our scientific knowledge and culture and society. Recently, many young philosophers have come across of the fact that if they want to understand these foundations they have to make progress in philosophical concepts using mathematical methods. This course is all about mathematical philosophy i.e. philosophy done with the help of mathematical methods.

This course will help students in analyzing philosophical concepts much more clearly in mathematical terms. Philosophical conclusions can be drawn from philosophical assumptions by mathematical proof and one can build mathematical models in which he can study philosophical problems.

Duration of Course

The session will start from April 14, 2014 for the duration of 10 weeks. The course will demand 2-3 hours/week for study. The course will be taught in English followed by English subtitles.

Course Format

The classes will consist of video lectures of about 8-15 minutes in length. It will also contain 1-2 incorporated quiz questions per video.

Eligibility

Elementary knowledge of High School Mathematics is required.

Course Syllabus

Week One: Infinity (Zeno’s Paradox, Galileo’s Paradox, very basic set theory, infinite sets).

Week Two: Truth (Tarski’s theory of truth, recursive definitions, complete induction over sentences, Liar Paradox).

Week Three: Rational Belief (propositions as sets of possible worlds, rational all-or-nothing belief, rational degrees of belief, bets, Lottery Paradox).

Week Four: If-then (indicative vs subjunctive conditionals, conditionals in mathematics, conditional rational degrees of belief, beliefs in conditionals vs conditional beliefs).

Week Five: Confirmation (the underdetermination thesis, the Monty Hall Problem, Bayesian confirmation theory).

Week Six: Decision (decision making under risk, maximizing xpected utility, von Neumann Morgenstern axioms and representation theorem, Allais Paradox, Ellsberg Paradox).

Week Seven: Voting (Condorcet Paradox, Arrows Theorem, Condorcet Jury Theorem, Judgment Aggregation).

Week Eight: Quantum Logic and Probability (statistical correlations, the CHSH inequality, Boolean and non-Boolean algebras, violation of distributivity)

Statement of Accomplishment

Online learners who will successfully complete the classes will receive a statement of accomplishment signed by the instructor.

About the Instructor

Hannes Leitgeb

He has accomplished his masters’ and PhD degree in Mathematics and a PhD degree in Philosophy from the University of Salzburg. He has also worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy in the same University. His interest areas are epistemology, philosophy of mathematics, cognitive science, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, logic and the history of Logical Positivism.

Stephan Hartmann

He is the head of Philosophy of Science in the Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and the Study of Religion at LMU Munich. He has also been the Director of the Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science (TiLPS). He has published various articles and has also written the book Bayesian Epistemology (with Luc Bovens). His current research interests include formal social epistemology, the philosophy and psychology of reasoning, intertheoretic relations and probabilities in quantum mechanics. 

To apply for the course, kindly follow Coursera’s website.