In the previous lecture I distinguished two nodes, or ‘attractors’, for the notion of representation, as it figures in contemporary philosophy. One node (‘irepresentation’) emphasises position in an inferential or functional network, the other (‘e-representation’) stresses correlation with an aspect of an external environment. I recommended that rather than trying to encompass both nodes in a s...

We defend pluralism in mathematics, and in particular Errett Bishop's constructive approach to mathematics, on pragmatic grounds, avoiding the philosophical issues which have dissuaded many mathematicians from taking it seriously. We also explain the computational value of interval arithmetic.

Consider Fritz, who is nowadays a happy resident of Saarbrücken. On sunny Saturdays, Fritz has the habit of barbecuing Bratwurst with his friends in his yard and going thereafter to his local, the Nächstestrasse Biergarten, ‘NB’ for short. Fritz may have a couple of beers while eating his Bratwurst at home, but nothing which compares to the amount he will drink thereafter at the beer garden. Th...

Many models have been proposed to explain the opinion formation in a group of individuals; most of these models study the opinion propagation as the interaction between nodes/agents in a social network. The opinion formation is a very complex process and a realistic model should also take into account the important feedbacks that the opinions of the agents have on the structure of the social ne...