IUSS Philosophy Workshop
L&PIC - Linguistics & Philosophy IUSS Center.
Epistemology and Philosophy of Mathematics
Mathematical Concepts: Analysis, Definitions and Explications
-- II Further Explorations --
Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS Pavia - www.iusspavia.it
March 10-11, 2026
The workshop builds on previous investigations into ongoing research concerning various methods traditionally employed for the conceptual clarification of logico-mathematical concepts within the foundations of mathematics and, more broadly, in logical and mathematical theorizing. These methods include conceptual analysis, explicit and implicit definitions, and explication. The workshop is funded by the EFC—Educating Future Citizens initiative, a network of higher education institutions supported by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and by the Phd Program HuME - The Human Mind and Its Explanations: Language, Brain and Reasoning. It is conceived as a continuation of the PRIN National Project PUMa: Proof and Understanding in Mathematics. Purity of Methods, Simplicity, and Explanation in Mathematical Reasoning (funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU) and is organized in collaboration with the FIS2 Project Humanizing Mathematical Knowledge: Fallibility, Technology, Know-How (FIS-04053).
Workshop Program:
Tuesday, March 10
10.30-11.30: Crispin Wright (Stirling University) - HP as a pair of I- and E-rules for the N-operator— what philosophical gain? (online)
11.30-11.40: short break
11.40-12.40: Bahram Assadian (University of Bristol) - Some Remarks on the Context Principle
12.40-14.00: lunch break
14.00-15.00: Rachel Boddy (IHPST - CNRS) - What are value-ranges, if not classes?
15.00-16.00: Sebastian Speitel (University of Bonn) - Definability, Categoricity, and the Determinacy of Mathematical Language
16.00-16.30: coffee break
16.30-17.30 Andrea Sereni (IUSS Pavia) - Abstraction and Explication
17.30-18.30 Matteo Di Benedetto (IMT Lucca) - What is Conceptual Progress?
Wednesday, March 11
10.00-11.00: Ludovica Conti (University of Vienna) - Weak Impredicativity. Conceptual analysis and a Fregean application
11.00-12.00: Nicolò Cambiaso & Tommaso Peripoli (UniMI & IUSS) - Two Historical Approaches to Mathematical Definitions
12.00-12.15: short break
12.15-13.15: Erich Reck (UC Riverside) - Carnap and Strawson on Analysis and Explication
Commentators at large
Francesca Boccuni (San Raffale, Milan) - Matteo De Ceglie (IUSS Pavia) - Silvia De Toffoli (IUSS Pavia) - Filippo Mancini (IUSS Pavia) - Brett Topey (IUSS Pavia) - Luca Zanetti (IUSS Pavia)
Organizers: Rachel Boddy (IHPST-CNRS), Nicolo' Cambiaso (IUSS Pavia), Silvia De Toffoli (IUSS Pavia), Andrea Sereni (IUSS Pavia).
Physical Venue: March 10: Sala del Camino /// March 11: Room 1.15
Palazzo del Broletto, Piazza della Vittoria 15, Pavia, Italy
Virtual Zoom Venues:
March 10: https://iusspavia.zoom.us/my/br.saladelcamino
March 11: https://iusspavia.zoom.us/my/br.aula1.15
Info at: nicolo.cambiaso@unimi.it, andrea.sereni@iusspavia.it
Funded by:
EFC—Educating Future Citizens
HuME PhD Program - The Human Mind and Its Explanations: Language, Brain and Reasoning.