Workshop “Female Logicians: Their Impact on Modern Logic”
Date: January 14, 2022
UNESCO World Logic Day 2022
The event will be held virtually and is locally organized by:
FernUniversität in Hagen (Germany), Institute of Philosophy, LG I, in cooperation with the Society for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology (GWMT) and FILEH: “Innovative Teaching in Logic”
Organisation:
Claudia Anger, PD Dr. Jens Lemanski, Dr. Andrea Reichenberger
The proclamation of World Logic Day by UNESCO, in association with the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH), intends to bring the intellectual history, conceptual significance and practical implications of logic to the attention of interdisciplinary science communities and the broader public. In this context, our workshop aims to focus on and critically discuss female logicians who have played an extraordinary role in the history and philosophy of logic, advocating at the same time for gender equality in order to make logic more open, diverse and effective. Parallels will be drawn with well-known figures of logic (e.g. Peirce, Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein) and a critical look will be taken at the historiography of logic, which still resonates today. In this way, technical know-how is to be combined with interdisciplinary research, problem-solving and social competencies. To name a few examples: Charles Sanders Peirce gave Christine Ladd-Franklin’s Algebra of Logic a prominent place in Studies in Logic, which he edited and published in 1883. Today, the American philosopher, mathematician and pragmatist feminist Christine Ladd-Franklin, whose intellectual achievements had been marginalized for a long time, is rediscovered in the history of logic. Another example: Compared to the “logical heroes” like Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein Margaret Masterman’s early work on logic, language and machine translation or Alice Ambrose role in Postwar US Women’s Education are so far almost unknown. Not to mention Ruth Barcan Marcus’ works on modal logic or Val Plumford’s contributions to paraconsistent logic. We aim to discuss challenges and perspectives in order to better integrate women into the history and philosophy of logic and to bring together experts with young scholars who are researching and working on female logicians.
The event will conclude with a round table discussion. Andrea Reichenberger will present some unpublished and unknown contributions (including dissertations) of female logicians to Frege, Hilbert and Gödel, and we will address questions like the following: How to bridge the gender gap in logic? How to use digital tools to make female logicians more visible? How should a gender-senstive road map for digital history look like? Francine F. Abeles, Ursula Martin and Carolin Antos-Kuby are invited as special guests. Francine F. Abeles was Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Kean University in Union, NJ, USA and head of the graduate programs (master’s level) in mathematics, computing, statistics, and mathematics education. She has co-edited a proceedings of the Canadian Society for The History and Philosophy of Mathematics, and edited three volumes in the pamphlets of Lewis Carroll series for the University Press of Virginia. She is the author of nearly one hundred papers in journals on topics in geometry, number theory, voting theory, linear algebra, logic, and their history. Particularly noteworthy is her co-editorship of the book Modern Logic 1850–1950, East and West (2016), together with Mark E. Fuller, now emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin at Janesville. Ursula Martin is a Professor at the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh and a Senior Research Fellow at Wadham College Oxford. She is best known for her works on Ada Lovelace and her activities aimed at encouraging women in the fields of computing and mathematics. She works at the interface of mathematics and computer science, where her contributions include an explanation of the power of logic for reasoning about practical systems with feedback, and results linking randomness and symmetry. Carolin Antos-Kuby is a Juniorprofessorin (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Konstanz and a Research Fellow at the Zukunftskolleg. She is working in the philosophy of mathematics and logic, with a focus on forcing as a mathematical technique and a philosophical concept.
Everyone interested is cordially invited to join the event. The workshop will take place online. Please contact Claudia Anger (claudia.anger@fernuni-hagen.de) for registration by January 13th, 2022.
Programme:
1:00 – 1:15 p.m. CET Opening and Welcome Speech
Jens Lemanski & Andrea Reichenberger (FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany)
1:15 – 1:50 p.m. CET Jasmin Özel (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA / University of Leipzig, Germany)
Christine Ladd-Franklin’s Treatment of Antilogisms as a Precursor to Incompatibility Semantics
1:50 – 2:25 p.m. CET Claudia Anger (FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany)
Christine Ladd-Franklin’s “Antilogism” as a Basis for Testing Syllogisms for Validity
in Modern Diagrammatic Logic
2:25 – 2:40 p.m. CET Break
2:40 – 3:15 p.m. CET John David Loner (University of Cambridge, UK)
Alice Ambrose, Morris Lazerowitz and the Role of Women Logicians in Postwar US Women’s Education
3:15 – 3:50 p.m. CET Siobhan Chapman (University of Liverpool, UK)
Margaret Masterman on Logic, Language and Machine Translation
3:50 – 4:05 p.m. CET Break
4:05 – 4:40 p.m. CET Frederique Janssen-Lauret (University of Manchester, UK)
Ruth Barcan Marcus’ Formal and Philosophial Logic
4:40 – 5:15 p.m. CET Elena Ficara (Paderborn University, Germany)
Val Plumwood about Logic and Discrimination
5:15 – 5:30 p.m. CET Break
5:30 – 7:00 p.m. CET Round Table Discussion. Invited as special guests:
Francine F. Abeles, Professor Emerita (Kean University in Union, NJ, USA)
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Carolin Antos-Kuby (University of Konstanz, Germany)
Ursula Martin, Professor (University of Edinburgh & Wadham College Oxford, UK)