Old news

2021

  • The paper "How can numerals be iconic? More varieties of iconicity", has appeared in the proceedings of DIAGRAMS 2021 (September 2021).
  • The paper "Calculus as method or calculus as rules? Boole and Frege on the aims of a logical calculus", with David Waszek, has appeared online in Synthese (July 2021).
  • The paper "Babbage's guidelines for the design of mathematical notations", with Jonah Dutz, has been published in Studies in Philosophy of Science (June 2021).
  • The paper "Peano on symbolization, design principles for notations, and the dot notation" has been published in Philosophia Scientiæ (March 2021).
  • My first paper in French, with Emmylou Haffner, "Dedekind et la crèation du continu arithmétique" has been published in L'Épistemologie du dedans. Mélanges en l'honneur de Hourya Benis-Sinaceur, edited by E. Haffner and D. Rabouin (2021).
  • The paper "Dedekind on continuity", with Emmylou Haffner, has been published in The History of Continua, edited by S. Shapiro and G. Hellman (2021).

2020

  • The paper with David Waszek on "Multiple readability in principle and practice: Existential Graphs and complex symbols" has been published in Logique & Analyse (2020).
  • The paper on "Iconicity in mathematical notation: commutativity and symmetry" (with Theresa Wege, Sophie Batchelor, Matthew Inglis, and Honali Mistry) has been published in the Journal of Numerical Cognition (December 2020).
  • The paper on "Pasch's empiricism as methodological structuralism" is available open access in The Pre-History of Mathematical Structuralism, edited by Erich Reck and Georg Schiemer (May 2020).
  • fig1 The CSHPM 2018 Volume of Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics, edited by Maria Zack and myself, has been published. (January 2020).

2019

  • My first paper in German, "Über Freges Begriffsschrift für Aussagenlogik: Gestaltungsprinzipien, Vor- und Nachteile", a revised translation of my HPL paper on the Begriffsschrift, has been published in Mattias Wille's collection Fregesche Variationen. Essays zu Ehren von Christian Thiel, December 2019.
  • The abstract of the poster presentation "How to find axioms for finite domains: A computational exploration of mathematical discovery" (with Gordon Krieger), has been published in Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (July 2019).
  • My paper "Extended mathematical cognition: External representations with non-derived content" (with Karina Vold) has been published in a Special Issue of Synthese online (January 2019).

2018

  • fig1 The proceedings of the CSHPM 2017 Meeting in Toronto, edited by Maria Zack and myself, have been published in the series Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics. (September 2018).
  • My paper "The cultural challenge in mathematical cognition" (with Sieghard Beller, Andrea Bender, Stephen Chrisomalis, Fiona M. Jordan, Karenleigh A. Overmann, and Geoffrey B. Saxe) has been published in Journal of Numerical Cognition, 4(2): 448–463, September 2018.
  • On July 6–8, 2018 I co-organized a workshop with Marianna Antonutti Marfori on Proofs and Representations at the MCMP, LMU, Munich.
  • My paper "Numbers through numerals. The constitutive role of external representations" has been published in Sorin Bangu's collection Naturalizing Logico-Mathematical Knowledge: Approaches from Psychology and Cognitive Science, February 2018.
  • The proceedings of the CSHPM 2016 Meeting in Calgary, edited by Maria Zack and myself, have been published in the series Research in History and Philosophy of Mathematics. (January 2018).

2017

  • My paper "Dedekind's abstract concepts: models and mappings" (with Wilfried Sieg) has finally appeared in print in Philosophia Mathematica, 25(3):292–317, October 2017. (It has been available online since September 2014.)
  • My short paper "On Dedekind's axiomatic approach to the foundations of mathematics" has been published in the proceedings of the "In Memoriam Richard Dedekind (1831–1916)" conference, held last year in Braunschweig (September 2017).
  • My paper "On Frege's Begriffsschrift notation for propositional logic: Design principles and trade-offs" has been published online in History and Philosophy of Logic (May 2017).

2016

2015

  • My paper "The cognitive advantages of counting specifically: A representational analysis of verbal numeration systems in Oceanic languages" (with Andrea Bender and Sieghard Beller) has been published in Topics in Cognitive Science (October 2015).
  • The issue of Synthese, in which I co-edited a special section on "History and Philosophy of Infinity" with Brendan Larvor and Benedikt Löwe has appeared (September 2015).
  • At this year's convocation I was awarded the H. Noel Fieldhouse Award for Distinguished Teaching from the Faculty of Arts (June 2015).
  • My paper "Basic mathematical cognition" (with David Gaber) has appeared in WIREs Cognitive Science (online) (May 2015).

2014

  • My paper "The cognitive advantages of counting specifically: A representational analysis of verbal numeration systems in Oceanic languages" (with Andrea Bender and Sieghard Beller) has been accepted for publication in Topics in Cognitive Science (December 2014).
  • My paper "Axioms in mathematical practice" has made it onto the list of "Notable Writings" in The Best Writing on Mathematics 2014 (M. Pitici, ed., Princeton UP) (November 2014).
  • My paper "Dedekind's abstract concepts: models and mappings" (with Wilfried Sieg) has appeared in Philosophia Mathematica (online) (September 2014).
  • I have written a short note of advice for writing papers for the Routes of Writing Project, The McGill Writing Centre (August 2014).
  • My paper "A subjective comparison between a historical and a contemporary textbook on geometry" (with Douglas Roland Campbell) has appeared in Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (July 2014).
  • In June 2014 I was Visiting Researcher at Laboratoire d'Histoire des Sciences et de Philosophie - Archives Henri-Poincaré, Nancy, France.
  • Promotion to Associate Professor with tenure (June 2014).

2013

  • History and Philosophy of Mathematics at McGill now has its own webpage (August 2013).
  • Volume 3 of the Hilbert Edition, "David Hilbert's Lectures on the Foundations of Logic and Arithmetic, 1917-1933", edited by W. Ewald and W. Sieg, in association with M. Hallett, in collaboration with U. Majer and myself, has finally appeared (June 2013).
  • My paper "Mathematical practice and conceptual metaphors: On cognitive studies of historical developments in mathematics" has appeared in Topics in Cognitive Science (April 2013).
  • My paper "The correspondence between Moritz Pasch and Felix Klein" has appeared online in Historia Mathematica (March 2013).
  • My paper "Axioms in mathematical practice" has appeared in Philosophia Mathematica (January 2013).

2012

  • My paper "Mathematical concepts and investigative practice" has appeared in the collection Scientific Concepts and Investigative Practice (October 2012).
  • Since September 2012 I am the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Philosophy Department at McGill University.
  • My paper "Methodological reflections on typologies for numerical notations" (with Theodore R. Widom) has appeared in Science in Context (April 2012).
  • From January 14 to February 29, 2012 I was a Research Fellow at Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF) in Bielefeld, Germany.

2011

  • My paper "On the creative role of axiomatics. The discovery of lattices by Schröder, Dedekind, Birkhoff, and others" has finally appeared in Synthese (October 2011; accepted March 2009).
  • My Erdös number is at most 4 (August 2011).
  • McGill has installed a webcam on McGill campus, which sometimes shows my office (March 2011).
  • Some soundbites from the Arts Undergraduate Research Event, published in The McGill Tribune (February 2011).

2010

  • In Winter 2010 I was on leave from McGill as a visiting researcher at Université Paris VII (Diderot), Département d'Histoire et Philosophie des Sciences and REHSEIS.
  • Three collaborative papers of mine have appeared in a collection on Philosophy of Mathematics: Sociological Aspects and Mathematical Practice (April 2010).
  • My paper on "Pasch's philosophy of mathematics" has appeared in Review of Symbolic Logic (March 2010).

2009

  • My introduction Ampersand, Journal of the Bachelor in Arts and Science, McGill University, Vol. 2, has been published (online) (December 2009).
  • The Montreal Inter-University Workshop on History and Philosophy of Mathematics (which I co-founded) had its second meeting on December 4, 2009.
  • My paper on "Learning from the existence of models. On psychic machines, tortoises, and computer simulations" has appeared in Synthese (August 2009).
  • Since June 1, 2009 I am Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at McGill University.
  • My paper on "Learning the structure of abstract groups" (with Thomas Shultz, McGill Psychology) has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the 31th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (30 March 2009).
  • The collection with my paper on "Bridging theories with axioms: Boole, Stone, and Tarski" has been published (with a picture I took on the front cover!) (January 2009).

2008

  • My paper on "Learning from the existence of models. On psychic machines, tortoises, and computer simulations" has appeared in Synthese (November 2008).
  • My paper on "Two Ways of Analogy: Extending the Study of Analogies to Mathematical Domains" has appeared in Philosophy of Science (11 September 2008).
  • My paper "On the creative role of axiomatics. The discovery of lattices by Schröder, Dedekind, Birkhoff, and others" has been accepted for publication in Synthese (July 2008).
  • My paper on "Modeling ancient and modern arithmetic practices: Addition and multiplication with Arabic and Roman numerals" (with Hansjörg Neth, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) has appeared in the Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (July 2008).
  • I have been invited to give a talk at the session on "Historical Ideals of Rigor in Mathematics" of the Winter 2008 meeting of the Association of Symbolic Logic (with APA), in Philadelphia, PA (June 2008).
  • My paper "On the Importance of asking the right research questions: Could Jordan have proved the Jordan-Hölder Theorem?" has appeared in Erkenntnis (May 2008).
  • My paper on "Modeling ancient and modern arithmetic practices: Addition and multiplication with Arabic and Roman numerals" (with Hansjörg Neth, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) has been accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (11 April 2008).
  • Awarded 3-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant for the research project "The Collected Works of Rudolf Carnap," with PI Richard Zach, University of Calgary (April 2008).
  • My paper on "Two Ways of Analogy" has been accepted for publication in Philosophy of Science (11 February 2008).
  • My book review of Franzén's "Gödel's Theorem: An incomplete guide to its use and abuse" has been published (January 2008).

2007

  • My paper on "Bridging theories with axioms: Boole, Stone, and Tarski" has been accepted for publication in Perspectives on Mathematical Practices, Vol. II, J.-P. van Bendegem and B. van Kerkhove (eds.) (December 2007).
  • Talk at the PhiMSAMP-2 Workshop, Utrecht, The Netherlands (19 October 2007).
  • I'm now listed on the Cognitive Science webpage at McGill (September 2007).
  • My paper on "Learning from the existence of models. On psychic machines, tortoises, and computer simulations" has been accepted for publication in Synthese (August 2007).
  • Current teaching:
    - COMP 230: Logic and Computability. Fall 2007
    - PHIL 411: Topics in Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics. Fall 2007
  • Talk at the Meeting of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics (CSHPM) and the British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM), Montreal, QC (27 July 2007).
  • My paper "On the Importance of asking the right research questions: Could Jordan have proved the Jordan-Hölder Theorem?" has been accepted for publication in Erkenntnis (June 2007)
  • Since June 2007: Associate Member of the School of Computer Science, McGill University.
  • Awarded 3-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Standard Research Grant for the research project "Geometry and Logic from Pasch to Hilbert," with co-applicant Michael Hallett (April 2007).
  • Talk at conference on Perspectives on Mathematical Practices, Brussels, Belgium (27 March 2007).
  • The proceedings with my paper on "Axiomatics and progress in the light of 20th century philosophy of science and mathematics" have been published (January 2007).
  • Talk at The Classical Model of Science conference in Amsterdam (12 January 2007).

2006

2005...