In March

Dr Peter Smith, Cambridge University, where he teaches philosophy and mathematics; Philosophy Erskine Fellow

March 10th, 7:40pm C3 Lecture Theatre, University of Canterbury

7.40 pm: Branch Annual General Meeting
Please note that the annual report which contains formal notice of the AGM has been delayed due to circumstances beyond our control but will be posted next week

8.00 pm: Lecture: Is it true what they say about Gödel?
Kurt Gödel was the most important logician of the 20th century, making transformational contributions to logic and to the foundations of mathematics. He also wrote some profound essays on the philosophy of mathematics. Despite the technical nature of his work, a pair of his results -- known as The Incompleteness Theorems -- have caught the imagination of non-specialists and found their way into popular books. That is because the Theorems have widely been thought to have deep and important implications for the nature of the human mind and the possible scope of our knowledge. Many have claimed a significance for Gödel's Theorems far beyond what he claimed for them.Are they right? I offer some sceptical reflections. Cambridge-trained initially in mathematics and then in philosophy, Peter Smith's philosophy career has spanned positions at UCW Aberystwyth, University of Sheffield, and, since Easter 1998, University of Cambridge again.

Formerly an editor of the premier philosophy journal "Analysis", with the accompanying demand to pursue wide philosophical interests, Dr Smith has subsequently returned to some core and original interests that are logical and mathematical, and from this has among other things produced the acclaimed Cambridge University Press book, "An Introduction to Gödel's Theorems". (To download Ch. 1 of this book, go to: http://www.phil.cam.ac.uk/teaching_staff/Smith/logicmatters/igt.html)

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Information on up-coming lectures can be found here

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