讲座分享 ｜ A History of the infinite

北京大学海外名家讲学计划

Programme

About the speaker

A. W. Moore is Professor of Philosophy and Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, and Tutorial Fellow of St Hugh’s College Oxford. He studied philosophy as an undergraduate at King’s College Cambridge, and did postgraduate work at Balliol College Oxford, where he obtained his doctorate under the supervision of Michael Dummett. He has held teaching and research positions at University College Oxford and King’s College Cambridge. Since 2003 he has been Bernard Williams’ literary executor. From 2014 to 2015 he was President of the Aristotelian Society. Since 2014 he has been philosophy delegate of Oxford University Press, and since 2015 he has been joint editor, with Lucy O’Brien, of MIND. He has published five books, and edited or co-edited four more. The most recent of these are, in a third edition, The Infinite (Routledge, 2019) and Language, World, and Limits: Essays in the Philosophy of Language and Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Abstract

These lectures will trace the history of thought about the infinite during the last two and a half thousand years. I shall look at the infinite in philosophical terms, in theological terms, in scientific terms, and in mathematical terms. As I hope to demonstrate, part of the importance of the topic is that, in trying to make sense of the infinite, we are also trying to make sense of ourselves. We are trying to make sense of our own experiences and our own limitations, and what these tell us about our place in the world. Always, in the background of these lectures, there will be a sense of our own finitude. Always the question will come back to how we, in our finitude, relate to what surpasses that finitude. In whatever way the history of the infinite develops, it is sure to be, as it has always been, a vital part of our own history.

Lecture 1: The Infinite in Ancient and Medieval Thought

Lecture 2: The Infinite in Science and Technology

Lecture 3: The Infinite in Mathematics

Lecture 4: Human Finitude

Online lecture Series：

1st – 10th December (19:00–21:00 Beijing, UTC+8 / 11:00–13:00 London, UTC+0, on Wednesdays and Fridays, 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th)

Live Stream links for the four lectures:

Bilibili:    https://live.bilibili.com/22229481     

Youtube:

Lecture 1：

https://youtu.be/iGC4DQXB6A8

Lecture 2：

https://youtu.be/Zu-2CdYgRC0

Lecture 3：

 https://youtu.be/vs4S_n3hH1U

Lecture 4：

https://youtu.be/9GQkm4Z-D5U

Chair

Sebastian Sunday Grève (王小塞)

Peking University

PanellistsLIST

Wuhan University

Chen Bo

陈波

Peking University

Han Linhe

韩林合

Peking University

Li Qilin

李麒麟

Shanxi University

Mei Jianhua

梅剑华

Peking University

Nan Xing

南星

Peking University

Sun Yongping

孙永平

Fudan University

Wang Wei

王纬

Peking University

Wang Yanjing

王彦晶

Peking University

Wu Tianyue

吴天岳

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Yan Chunling

颜春玲

Capital Normal University

Ye Feng

叶峰

Peking University

Zhao You

赵悠

转载自“北京大学哲学系宗教学系”公众号

编辑/刘晋国

审核/范杰