Seminar on Theoretical Philosophy

Teacher(s)

Guay Alexandre (coordinator); Pence Charles; Verdée Peter;

Language

French

Content

This seminar offers an in-depth introduction to several issues in theoretical philosophy, centered around the concept of paradox. Starting from principles that seem intuitively plausible or that belong to well-established theoretical frameworks, paradoxes allow us to derive counterintuitive, even logically contradictory conclusions. These conceptual tensions have often led philosophers and scientists to reassess their fundamental assumptions and develop innovative solutions.
The course will first examine the nature of paradox as a philosophical object, before analyzing in detail a selection of paradoxes:

• The sorites paradox (heap paradox) and paradoxes of vagueness
• The liar paradox and paradoxes related to truth
• Paradoxes arising from set theory and the theory of collections
• Paradoxes related to conditionals and logical implication
• Paradoxes in epistemology
• Paradoxes of infinity (notably those formulated by Cantor, Hilbert, and Skolem)
• Paradoxes in decision theory and social choice theory (including Arrow’s paradox)
• Paradoxes of time, space, and time travel
• Probabilistic paradoxes
• Paradoxes from quantum physics

Special attention will also be given to the dialetheist strategy, which considers the possibility of propositions being simultaneously true and false, as a way to resolve certain paradoxes.

Teaching methods

• In each class, students present a paradox of their choice along with possible solutions. The instructor provides corrections, additional explanations, and answers questions.
• After each presentation, the group engages in a critical discussion of the various proposed solutions, in order to collectively determine which ones seem most convincing.
• During the final classes, students present an in-depth reflection developed from one of the paradoxes discussed during the semester.

Evaluation methods

June
1. Presentation in class of an introduction to a paradox (50% de la note finale)
2. Presentation in class of an in-depth analysis of an aspect of a specific paradox (50% de la note finale)
August
Oral exam to evaluate whether the student has done an in-depth analysis of an apsect of a specific paradox (100% de la note finale)

Other information

/

Online resources

See course Moodle website.

Bibliography

Cook, Roy T., Paradoxes, Polity, 2013.
Delahaye, Jean-Paul, Au pays des paradoxes, Belin 2008
Sainsbury, R. M., Paradoxes, Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Faculty or entity

> EFIL