Department of Philosophy | University of Pittsburgh (original) (raw)

Highlights

Title: Validity for Beginners
Abstract: The topic of this paper is what I call a judgment of validity. In paradigmatic cases of inference, knowledge of the premises together with a judgment of validity yields knowledge of the conclusion. This suggests a method for understanding such a judgment: It is what you get when you subtract knowledge of the premises from a good inference. If one defines a judgment of validity as I just did, what must it be? What, if anything, does a judgment of validity say about the world? And what in ourselves are we giving voice to when we make such a judgment? In attempting to answer these questions, l will argue for a conception of validity that, among other things, explains how an argument's being valid manages to guide reasoning. This provides in miniature a novel and compelling way of addressing the question of how the laws of logic relate to thought.

• 
  Congratulations to James McCord, recipient of the 2025 A&S GSO Elizabeth Baranger Teaching Award!
• 
  Seoyeon Park was awarded the 2024-2025 Bennett Prize for her essay, "Two Questions of Logic." Congratulations!
• 
  The Department of History and Philosophy of Science and the Department of Philosophy Present Tushar Menon, MIT, Friday, October 24, 2025 at 3:30 PM, Cathedral of Learning 1008.
  "The World(s) According to Quantum Mechanics"
  Abstract: Quantum theories are difficult, and insights into the worlds they model are hard-won. The quantum state tells us about values that some physical magnitudes can and cannot take, which suggests a nomological-modal reading. The quantum state is the central dynamical entity of quantum theories, which suggests a descriptive reading. The quantum state is a repository of objective statistical facts about physical systems, which suggests an advisory reading. Frustratingly, these readings sit uncomfortably together, and interpretations of the quantum state typically give one of them up. The goal of this talk is to take seriously all of these insights about the quantum state, set up a framework for their reconciliation, and offer a diagnosis of the source of their apparent incompatibility. That diagnosis is that the incompatibility is forced on us only if we adopt an interpretative strategy that I call relational. A diagnosis is most helpful when it is accompanied by a remedy. I propose one: we should instead adopt an interpretative strategy that I call investigative. I argue that the investigative strategy is the resource we need to answer the question of what the world is like according to quantum mechanics.
• 
  Title/Abstract to be announced.
• 
  Title/Abstract to be announced.
• 
  Title/Abstract to be announced.
• 
  Title/Abstract to be announced.
•