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CFP (A CLPS13 symposium) - Nominalism and its foes: formal methods

Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science of Ghent University was founded in 1993. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary the Centre organizes an international Conference on Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS13). We will schedule parallel sessions with contributed papers and special symposia with a limited number of papers.

I am the organizer of a symposium titled:

NOMINALISM AND ITS FOES: FORMAL METHODS

If you're interested in presenting a paper at this symposium, please upload an abstract in PDF format (between 500 and 1000 words) to:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=clps13 
by April 1, 2013

(You will be asked to choose between one of the following submission categories:
- Logical analysis of scientific reasoning processes
- Methodological and epistemological analysis of scientific reasoning processes
- Symposium submission
Select the last option and mention the symposium number - 7 - in the title of your abstract.)

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SYMPOSIUM DESCRIPTION
Nominalism denies the existence of abstract (aspatial, atemporal and acausal) entities. To develop a respectable version of nominalism, one has to (a) give arguments for nominalism, (b) develop arguments agains platonism and (c) show that a nominalist can make sense of valuable kinds of discourse which seem to be committed to abstract objects. Since around 1980s various mathematically elaborate nominalistic projects have been undertaken (and criticized) and the discussion concerning their viability is far from over.
In the symposium we will focus on the bearing that formal methods have on tasks (a-c). Formal methods can be used to:
 ▪ develop precise and (perhaps) cogent arguments for (or against) nominalism (or platonism),
 ▪ construct nominalistic accounts of various parts of discourse (in particular: nominalistic versions of certain mathematical or physical theories), and
 ▪ assess attempts to construct such accounts.
We welcome submissions pertaining to these and other applications of formal methods to philosophical questions related to nominalism.
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Important dates: 
Abstract submission deadline: April 1, 2013
Acceptance notification: May 15, 2013
Programme online: July 1, 2013
Conference: September 16-18, 2013
Conference website with more details:
http://www.clps13.ugent.be

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