26 min listen
The many worlds of David Lewis
ratings:
Length:
28 minutes
Released:
Dec 19, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Many believe that David Lewis had one of the finest minds of any modern philosopher. His concept of modal realism – the idea that infinite alternative worlds exist concretely in spacetime – was celebrated by his peers even while they doubted it, and his freewheeling style of writing demonstrated that it’s possible to be philosophically rigorous and still have fun. This week we explore the life and work of this pioneering American intellectual who had close ties with Australia.
Released:
Dec 19, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
Proof and beauty: Mathematicians routinely refer to complex proofs in aesthetic terms, citing their 'elegance' or 'beauty'. This has partly to do with the social aspect of such proofs—far from being a hermetic or exclusively cerebral practice, mathematics has never strayed by Philosopher's Zone