Robinson's Podcast

Jody Azzouni is Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University. While Jody is best known for his nominalist stance in the philosophy of mathematics, he is also an author of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. This is Jody’s third appearance on the show. On his first appearance, episode #45, he and Robinson spoke about the debate between nominalists and platonists in the philosophy of mathematics, Jody’s own deflationary stance, and some adjacent concerns about ontological commitment in both formal and informal languages. On his second appearance, episode #75, they spoke about logic, natural languages, and formal languages, and mathematics. And in this episode, they shift topics entirely, discussing Jody’s upcoming book, Challenging Knowledge, which develops an original account in epistemology that seeks to thwart skeptic challenges, and which also builds off of Jody’s most recent book, Attributing Knowledge: What it Means to Know Something (Oxford, 2020). Jody’s Website: https://jodyazzouni.com OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:11 Introduction 04:31 Jody and Epistemology 09:17 Foundationalism, Coherentism, and Infinitism 17:37 Knowledge and Usage 30:37 Metaknowledge and Introspection 41:43 Sortability and Traceability 50:49 Starting Place Epistemology 59:06 Cartesian Skepticism 01:06:00 Pyrrhonic Skepticism 01:14:16 The Difficulty of Epistemology and Mathematics 01:18:32 Internalism and Externalism 01:22:47 Fallibility Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Achille Varzi is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and Bruno Kessler Honorary Professor at the University of Trento. He is a renowned metaphysicist and logician, and widely regarded as the world’s leading mereologist. Achille—or Varzi, as he is affectionately known around the halls of Columbia’s philosophy department—is also an immensely important philosophical figure for Robinson, and a prior denizen of this podcast multiverse (see episode 47 for Achille’s introduction to metaphysics and nominalism). In this installment, however, Robinson and Varzi delve deep into the history, logic, and metaphysics of mereology, the theory of parts and the parthood relation. For a more in-depth and rigorous discussion of the material covered in this episode (because yes, this is in fact possible!), check out Achille and A.J. Cotnoir’s fantastic monograph on the subject, linked below: Mereology (Oxford, 2021): https://a.co/d/gFKrO3U Mereology (SEP): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mereology/ Achille’s Website: http://www.columbia.edu/~av72/ Correction: Achille mistakenly refers to Verity Harte, author of Plato on Parts and Wholes, as Valery Harte.  OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 1:02 Introduction 4:44 Achille’s Start in Mereology 8:19 The Etymology of Mereology 18:00 What is Mereology? 20:03 Ancient Mereology 30:04 Medieval Mereology and the Liar Paradox 47:33 Husserl’s Formal Ontology 1:10:28 Leśniewski and the Formalization of Mereology 1:21:25 Whitehead, Leonard & Goodman, and the History of Mereology 1:34:26 The Language of Mereology 1:39:44 Mereology and the Axiomatic Method 1:47:46 More on the Language of Mereology 1:52:37 The Mereological Formalism 2:16:42 Composition 2:29:35 Misconceptions about Mereological Fusion  3:01:10 Gunk, Junk, and Hunk 3:10:15 Applications of Mereology 3:15:50 Mereological Pluralism 3:31:43 Mereotopology and the Ordering Axioms  Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Alva Noë is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, where he researches the philosophy of mind—primarily focusing on perception and consciousness—and the philosophy of art. In this episode, Robinson and Alva discuss the latter, for while Alva is already the author of two books in the area—Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature (Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2015) and Look: Dispatches from the Art World (Oxford, 2021)—June 23, 2023 will mark the release of a new work, The Entanglement: How Art and Philosophy Make Us What We Are (Princeton University Press). Robinson and Alva touch on topics from all three works, including the interrelationship between art, philosophy, phenomenology, and neuroscience. Alva’s Website: http://www.alvanoe.com Alva’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/alvanoe OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:38 Introduction 04:08 Mind and Art 10:05 Knowledge and Making 18:39 Attention and Rembrandt 31:28 Viewer and Creator 41:29 Art as a Philosophical Practice 47:00 Neuroscience 57:09 The Entanglement 01:17:15 Phenomenology, Art, and Analytic Philosophy Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Havi Carel is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol, where she studies illness and its relationship to philosophy. Her research draws largely on phenomenology, a philosophical approach most closely associated with the Continental tradition of philosophy, and that relies heavily on perception and experience. In this episode Robinson and Havi discuss her own illness, LAM, and how it affects her own work, along with many other topics related to illness, such as Freud, mental health, and breathlessness. OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:24 Introduction 03:31 LAM and Illness 08:14 Continental Philosophy, Analytic Philosophy, and Phenomenology 22:12 Illness, Sickness, and Disease 26:36 Limitations of Writing on Phenomenology and Illness 42:34 Illness and Philosophy 51:03 Freud and the Phenomenology of Illness 56:41 Breathing and Breathlessness Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Joan Bagaria is ICREA Research Professor in the Department of Experimental Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Barcelona. He is a mathematical logician who works in set theory, which is the branch of mathematics that not only specializes in the investigation of infinity but serves as the foundation for the rest of mathematics—what this means, and its implications, are explored in the episode. Joan and Robinson discuss all things set theory, beginning with its origins in the mind of Georg Cantor, its development in the 20th century, some philosophical questions, and some current outstanding problems. They also briefly touch on Catalan independence, a topic dear to Joan’s heart. Joan’s Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/BagariaJoan⁠ Set Theory: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory/ The Early Development of Set Theory: https://plato.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia/archinfo.cgi?entry=settheory-early OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:01 Introduction 06:18 Joan and Set Theory 09:11 The Development of Set Theory 21:08 Naive Set Theory and Axiomatic Set Theory 30:52 Zermelo-Fraenkel Set Theory with Choice 46:35 Metaphysics and Epistemology 01:03:06 Set Theory as the Foundation of Mathematics 01:09:48 The Continuum Problem 01:16:13 Settling the Continuum Problem 01:35:21 Alternative Set Theories 01:43:37 Alternative Foundations 01:47:53 Catalan Independence Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠ Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

John Perry is Henry Waldgrave Stuart Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Stanford University. He was also the co-host with Ken Taylor of the nationally syndicated radio show Philosophy Talk. John has worked in the philosophy of language, mind, and metaphysics, and is well-known for his famous Slingshot Argument with John Barwise. Robinson and John first talk about his book The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing. They then turn to some of his work on identity, personal identity, and the self. OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:58 Introduction 02:43 In Defense of Procrastination 10:45 Dialogues and Philosophical Writing 23:17 Identity and Personal Identity 35:37 Memory and Personal Identity 47:39 The Body-Identity Theory 54:18 Parfit and Lewis on Identity 01:03:31 John and the Memory Theory  01:21:46 Death and Identity 01:32:46 Personhood and the Self 01:54:54 Could You Be Someone Else? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Papineau is Professor of Philosophy of Science at King’s College London. He also teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and before that he lectured in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge. David’s last appearance on the podcast was episode 62, where he and Robinson spoke about realism, antirealism, and the philosophy of science. This time, however, they discuss the content of his most recent book, The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience (OUP 2021), which is linked below. The Metaphysics of Sensory Experience: https://a.co/d/6hID7Lf David’s Website: https://www.davidpapineau.co.uk  Twitter: @davidpapineau OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:38 Introduction 02:52 David’s Philosophical Interests 08:16 Distinguishing Sensory and Perceptual Experience 21:57 Naive Realism and the Metaphysics of Sensory Experience 34:09 Representationalism and the Metaphysics of Experience 01:02:02 The Transparency of Experience 01:15:28 Objections Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Graham Harman is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Sci-Arc, the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. He is one of the leading metaphysicians in the continental tradition of philosophy and an influential philosopher of art. Robinson and Graham discuss his work at the forefront of the speculative realist trend in the contemporary continental world, where he is known for his object-oriented ontology, or OOO. They also talk about the philosophy of art and architecture, touching on figures like H.P. Lovecraft and Duchamp, who Graham has written about extensively in his work. Check out Graham’s latest book, Architecture and Objects, linked below: Architecture and Objects: https://a.co/d/ewHg5Ur OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:54 Introduction 05:22 Graham and Continental Philosophy 13:04 Speculative Realism and Object-Oriented Ontology 27:05 On Debating Slavoj Žižek 30:28 Fictional Objects 34:42 Real and Sensual Objects 52:14 Aesthetics OOO 59:47 Was Performance the First Art? 01:07:53 H.P. Lovecraft and Philosophy 01:17:33 Surrealism, Dada, and Literalism 01:23:19 Architecture, Philosophy, and Metaphysics 01:46:06 Philosophical Formalism and Architecture 02:00:20 Final Thoughts Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Graham Oppy is Professor of Philosophy at Monash University. Before that, he did his undergraduate work in Melbourne and his graduate work at Princeton. Though Graham is best known as a philosopher of religion, he has also published on the philosophy of math, language, aesthetics, and more. In this episode, Robinson and Graham begin by discussing the nature of argument: What makes an argument successful? What’s a good argument? How should we think about arguments in areas of deep disagreement? They then move on to a discussion of ontological arguments in the philosophy of religion, where one argues for the existence of god—or gods—without any prior assumptions. Ontological Arguments: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/ Majesty of Reason: https://www.youtube.com/@MajestyofReason OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:40 Introduction 05:04 Graham and the Philosophy of Religion 11:45 Arguments 14:12 What Makes a Good Argument? 38:00 How to Talk Around Deep Disagreement 48:23 How Arguments Vary Across Disciplines 56:13 Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God 01:31:29 Cosmological Arguments Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Frank Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University. He is best known for the knowledge argument and Mary’s Room—its accompanying thought experiment—but has published widely in the philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics, and the philosophy of language. Graham Priest is a Distinguished Professor in the philosophy department at the CUNY Graduate Center. Like Frank, he is one of the most influential philosophers of the past fifty years, and has done important work on a wide range of topics, ranging from the philosophy of mathematics to logic and eastern philosophy. In this episode, Robinson, Frank, and Graham talk about David Lewis and his immense legacy in the philosophical world. They cover his character—Frank and Graham were friends with him for many years—as well as some of his work, ranging from the thesis of modal realism to Humean supervenience and the philosophy of set theory. David Lewis: ⁠https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/david-lewis/⁠ Graham’s Website: ⁠https://grahampriest.net⁠ OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:17 Introduction 07:54 David Lewis as a Friend and Philosopher 24:12 Australian Philosophy 28:53 Lewisian Themes 34:30 Modal Realism 52:43 Kripke and Lewis on Possible Worlds 58:07 Making Use of Possible Worlds 01:23:29 Humean Supervenience 01:38:19 Set Theory and Mereology 01:45:19 Final Thoughts Robinson’s Website: ⁠http://robinsonerhardt.com⁠ Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.