Jody Azzouni
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Jody Azzouni (born 9 April 1954) is a philosopher at Tufts University and a poet.
He received his bachelor's degree and Master's Degree from New York University and his PhD from the City University of New York.
Azzouni is currently working on the philosophy of mathematics, science, logic, language and in areas of metaphysics, epistemology, and aesthetics.
In addition to the philosophy he does, he holds a degree in mathematics and has published a book of poetry entitled The Lust For Blueprints and numerous short stories. His philosophical hero is Willard Van Orman Quine.
One of his distinctive positions says that mathematical objects don't exist.
Yet, unlike Hartry Field, he believes that the existence claims of mathematics are in fact literally true. That is, some of the existential quantifiers in our ordinary speech carry ontological commitment, but some don't. There is no standard way to indicate which are which, but we can generally tell by context. When someone asks "How many prime numbers are there between 10 and 20?", we understand it in the non-committing way, and answer "4". However, when asked "Are there actually any numbers?", we understand it in the committing way, and he suggests we should answer "No".
Contents |
[edit] Books
[edit] Philosophy
- Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice: The Ontology and Epistemology of the Exact Sciences (1994)
- Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science (2000)
- Deflating Existential Consequence: A Case for Nominalism (2004)
- Tracking Reason: Proof, Consequence and Truth (2006)
[edit] Poetry
- The Lust for Blueprints The Poet's Press (1999) ISBN-10 0922558078 ISBN-13 978-0922558070
