Mar
29
Fri
Bjorndahl: The Epistemology of Nondeterminism. Logic, Probability, and Games Seminar @ Faculty House, Columbia U
Mar 29 @ 4:00 pm

Propositional dynamic logic (PDL) is a framework for reasoning about nondeterministic program executions (or, more generally, nondeterministic actions). In this setting, nondeterminism is taken as a primitive: a program is nondeterministic iff it has multiple possible outcomes. But what is the sense of “possibility” at play here? This talk explores an epistemic interpretation: working in an enriched logical setting, we represent nondeterminism as a relationship between a program and an agent deriving from the agent’s (in)ability to adequately measure the dynamics of the program execution. More precisely, using topology to capture the observational powers of an agent, we define the nondeterministic outcomes of a given program execution to be those outcomes that the agent is unable to rule out in advance. In this framework, determinism coincides exactly with continuity: that is, determinism is continuity in the observation topology. This allows us to embed PDL into (dynamic) topological (subset space) logic, laying the groundwork for a deeper investigation into the epistemology (and topology) of nondeterminism.

The seminar is concerned with applying formal methods to fundamental issues, with an emphasis on probabilistic reasoning, decision theory and games. In this context “logic” is broadly interpreted as covering applications that involve formal representations. The topics of interest have been researched within a very broad spectrum of different disciplines, including philosophy (logic and epistemology), statistics, economics, and computer science. The seminar is intended to bring together scholars from different fields of research so as to illuminate problems of common interest from different perspectives. Throughout each academic year, meetings are regularly presented by the members of the seminar and distinguished guest speakers.

details tba

02/08/2019 Faculty House, Columbia University
4:00 PM

03/29/2019 Faculty House, Columbia University
4:00 PM

04/19/2018 Faculty House, Columbia University
4:00 PM

Apr
26
Fri
Huttegger: Rethinking Convergence to the Truth. Simon Huttegger (UC Irvine) @ Faculty House, Columbia U
Apr 26 @ 4:10 pm

Convergence to the truth is viewed with some ambivalence in philosophy of science. On the one hand, methods of inquiry that lead to the truth in the limit are prized as marks of scientific rationality. But an agent who, by using some method, expects to always converge to the truth seems to fail a minimum standard of epistemic modesty. This point was recently brought home by Gordon Belot in his critique of Bayesian epistemology. In this paper I will study convergence to the truth theorems within the framework of Edward Nelson’s radically elementary probability theory. This theory provides an enriched conceptual framework for investigating convergence and gives rise to an appropriately modest from of Bayesianism.

The seminar is concerned with applying formal methods to fundamental issues, with an emphasis on probabilistic reasoning, decision theory and games. In this context “logic” is broadly interpreted as covering applications that involve formal representations. The topics of interest have been researched within a very broad spectrum of different disciplines, including philosophy (logic and epistemology), statistics, economics, and computer science. The seminar is intended to bring together scholars from different fields of research so as to illuminate problems of common interest from different perspectives. Throughout each academic year, meetings are regularly presented by the members of the seminar and distinguished guest speakers.

details tba

02/08/2019 Faculty House, Columbia University
4:00 PM

03/22/2019 Faculty House, Columbia University
4:00 PM

04/19/2018 Faculty House, Columbia University
4:00 PM

Jan
16
Thu
The Art of Change: An Experimental Opera by Jean-Baptiste Barrière @ Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall, 4th floor.
Jan 16 @ 8:00 pm

The Art of Change is a bold experimental work that introduces a radically new artistic form. Starting with the traditional notion of opera as a type of work that blends music, theater, art, and design into a single form, The Art of Change brings performers and thinkers together on stage and fuses live performance with historical video footage, recorded interviews and multimedia content. All of this is woven together into a tapestry that is generative, interactive, participative, and open.

As its title suggests, the work centers on the very idea of change and presents various ways of thinking, from the very pragmatic to the most speculative, about what needs to be changed in the world today. Actors, singers, instrumentalists, designers, and philosophers come together, with the audience, to speculate on this question and the many ways in which it can be answered.

The libretto, by philosopher Chiara Bottici, is the result of a process in which an initial text was developed through a collective authoring process that unfolded on Public Seminar – an online journal of ideas, politics and culture supported by The New School.

No two performances of The Art of Change are the same. Spoken dialogues within each performance are analyzed and processed on the fly through software which captures and develops the melodic and rhythmic patterns of speech to generate instrumental scores for the musicians and electronics. What is more, each evening features two guests – a thinker and a musician – who bring new perspectives and their unique vision to the work.

 

Performances:

January 16th, 8pm

January 17th, 5pm & 8pm

January 18th, 5pm & 8pm

January 21st, 8pm

 

Creative Team:

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Concept, Video Design & Composition

Chiara Bottici, Libretto

Ashley Tata, Stage Direction

Timo Rissanen, Costume Design

Abigail Hoke-Brady, Lighting Design

Thomas Goepfer, Sound & Video Design

Camilla Hoitenga, Flutes Solo

Levy Lorenzo, Creative Technologist, Percussion

 

Actors, singers and instrumentalists of The New School’s College of Performing Arts: Hayley Boggs, William Desbiens, Youngwoo Jeon, Kalun Leung, Timmy Ong, Yeji Pyun, Samuel Rachmuth, Veronica Richer, Jane Skapek (assistant director), Zachary Sebek, Alexander Theiss, Jackie Traish, Yunnan Xu

 

Guest Artists:

January 16: Simon Critchley, philosopher and Joan La Barbara, musician

January 17: Cinzia Arruzza, philosopher and Rebekah Heller, musician

January 18: Dmitri Nikulin, philosopher and Ross Karre musician

January 21: Jamieson Webster, psychoanalyst and Joan La Barbara, musician

Jan
17
Fri
The Art of Change: An Experimental Opera by Jean-Baptiste Barrière @ Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall, 4th floor.
Jan 17 @ 5:00 pm

The Art of Change is a bold experimental work that introduces a radically new artistic form. Starting with the traditional notion of opera as a type of work that blends music, theater, art, and design into a single form, The Art of Change brings performers and thinkers together on stage and fuses live performance with historical video footage, recorded interviews and multimedia content. All of this is woven together into a tapestry that is generative, interactive, participative, and open.

As its title suggests, the work centers on the very idea of change and presents various ways of thinking, from the very pragmatic to the most speculative, about what needs to be changed in the world today. Actors, singers, instrumentalists, designers, and philosophers come together, with the audience, to speculate on this question and the many ways in which it can be answered.

The libretto, by philosopher Chiara Bottici, is the result of a process in which an initial text was developed through a collective authoring process that unfolded on Public Seminar – an online journal of ideas, politics and culture supported by The New School.

No two performances of The Art of Change are the same. Spoken dialogues within each performance are analyzed and processed on the fly through software which captures and develops the melodic and rhythmic patterns of speech to generate instrumental scores for the musicians and electronics. What is more, each evening features two guests – a thinker and a musician – who bring new perspectives and their unique vision to the work.

 

Performances:

January 16th, 8pm

January 17th, 5pm & 8pm

January 18th, 5pm & 8pm

January 21st, 8pm

 

Creative Team:

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Concept, Video Design & Composition

Chiara Bottici, Libretto

Ashley Tata, Stage Direction

Timo Rissanen, Costume Design

Abigail Hoke-Brady, Lighting Design

Thomas Goepfer, Sound & Video Design

Camilla Hoitenga, Flutes Solo

Levy Lorenzo, Creative Technologist, Percussion

 

Actors, singers and instrumentalists of The New School’s College of Performing Arts: Hayley Boggs, William Desbiens, Youngwoo Jeon, Kalun Leung, Timmy Ong, Yeji Pyun, Samuel Rachmuth, Veronica Richer, Jane Skapek (assistant director), Zachary Sebek, Alexander Theiss, Jackie Traish, Yunnan Xu

 

Guest Artists:

January 16: Simon Critchley, philosopher and Joan La Barbara, musician

January 17: Cinzia Arruzza, philosopher and Rebekah Heller, musician

January 18: Dmitri Nikulin, philosopher and Ross Karre musician

January 21: Jamieson Webster, psychoanalyst and Joan La Barbara, musician

The Art of Change: An Experimental Opera by Jean-Baptiste Barrière @ Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall, 4th floor.
Jan 17 @ 8:00 pm

The Art of Change is a bold experimental work that introduces a radically new artistic form. Starting with the traditional notion of opera as a type of work that blends music, theater, art, and design into a single form, The Art of Change brings performers and thinkers together on stage and fuses live performance with historical video footage, recorded interviews and multimedia content. All of this is woven together into a tapestry that is generative, interactive, participative, and open.

As its title suggests, the work centers on the very idea of change and presents various ways of thinking, from the very pragmatic to the most speculative, about what needs to be changed in the world today. Actors, singers, instrumentalists, designers, and philosophers come together, with the audience, to speculate on this question and the many ways in which it can be answered.

The libretto, by philosopher Chiara Bottici, is the result of a process in which an initial text was developed through a collective authoring process that unfolded on Public Seminar – an online journal of ideas, politics and culture supported by The New School.

No two performances of The Art of Change are the same. Spoken dialogues within each performance are analyzed and processed on the fly through software which captures and develops the melodic and rhythmic patterns of speech to generate instrumental scores for the musicians and electronics. What is more, each evening features two guests – a thinker and a musician – who bring new perspectives and their unique vision to the work.

 

Performances:

January 16th, 8pm

January 17th, 5pm & 8pm

January 18th, 5pm & 8pm

January 21st, 8pm

 

Creative Team:

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Concept, Video Design & Composition

Chiara Bottici, Libretto

Ashley Tata, Stage Direction

Timo Rissanen, Costume Design

Abigail Hoke-Brady, Lighting Design

Thomas Goepfer, Sound & Video Design

Camilla Hoitenga, Flutes Solo

Levy Lorenzo, Creative Technologist, Percussion

 

Actors, singers and instrumentalists of The New School’s College of Performing Arts: Hayley Boggs, William Desbiens, Youngwoo Jeon, Kalun Leung, Timmy Ong, Yeji Pyun, Samuel Rachmuth, Veronica Richer, Jane Skapek (assistant director), Zachary Sebek, Alexander Theiss, Jackie Traish, Yunnan Xu

 

Guest Artists:

January 16: Simon Critchley, philosopher and Joan La Barbara, musician

January 17: Cinzia Arruzza, philosopher and Rebekah Heller, musician

January 18: Dmitri Nikulin, philosopher and Ross Karre musician

January 21: Jamieson Webster, psychoanalyst and Joan La Barbara, musician

Jan
18
Sat
The Art of Change: An Experimental Opera by Jean-Baptiste Barrière @ Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall, 4th floor.
Jan 18 @ 5:00 pm

The Art of Change is a bold experimental work that introduces a radically new artistic form. Starting with the traditional notion of opera as a type of work that blends music, theater, art, and design into a single form, The Art of Change brings performers and thinkers together on stage and fuses live performance with historical video footage, recorded interviews and multimedia content. All of this is woven together into a tapestry that is generative, interactive, participative, and open.

As its title suggests, the work centers on the very idea of change and presents various ways of thinking, from the very pragmatic to the most speculative, about what needs to be changed in the world today. Actors, singers, instrumentalists, designers, and philosophers come together, with the audience, to speculate on this question and the many ways in which it can be answered.

The libretto, by philosopher Chiara Bottici, is the result of a process in which an initial text was developed through a collective authoring process that unfolded on Public Seminar – an online journal of ideas, politics and culture supported by The New School.

No two performances of The Art of Change are the same. Spoken dialogues within each performance are analyzed and processed on the fly through software which captures and develops the melodic and rhythmic patterns of speech to generate instrumental scores for the musicians and electronics. What is more, each evening features two guests – a thinker and a musician – who bring new perspectives and their unique vision to the work.

 

Performances:

January 16th, 8pm

January 17th, 5pm & 8pm

January 18th, 5pm & 8pm

January 21st, 8pm

 

Creative Team:

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Concept, Video Design & Composition

Chiara Bottici, Libretto

Ashley Tata, Stage Direction

Timo Rissanen, Costume Design

Abigail Hoke-Brady, Lighting Design

Thomas Goepfer, Sound & Video Design

Camilla Hoitenga, Flutes Solo

Levy Lorenzo, Creative Technologist, Percussion

 

Actors, singers and instrumentalists of The New School’s College of Performing Arts: Hayley Boggs, William Desbiens, Youngwoo Jeon, Kalun Leung, Timmy Ong, Yeji Pyun, Samuel Rachmuth, Veronica Richer, Jane Skapek (assistant director), Zachary Sebek, Alexander Theiss, Jackie Traish, Yunnan Xu

 

Guest Artists:

January 16: Simon Critchley, philosopher and Joan La Barbara, musician

January 17: Cinzia Arruzza, philosopher and Rebekah Heller, musician

January 18: Dmitri Nikulin, philosopher and Ross Karre musician

January 21: Jamieson Webster, psychoanalyst and Joan La Barbara, musician

The Art of Change: An Experimental Opera by Jean-Baptiste Barrière @ Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall, 4th floor.
Jan 18 @ 8:00 pm

The Art of Change is a bold experimental work that introduces a radically new artistic form. Starting with the traditional notion of opera as a type of work that blends music, theater, art, and design into a single form, The Art of Change brings performers and thinkers together on stage and fuses live performance with historical video footage, recorded interviews and multimedia content. All of this is woven together into a tapestry that is generative, interactive, participative, and open.

As its title suggests, the work centers on the very idea of change and presents various ways of thinking, from the very pragmatic to the most speculative, about what needs to be changed in the world today. Actors, singers, instrumentalists, designers, and philosophers come together, with the audience, to speculate on this question and the many ways in which it can be answered.

The libretto, by philosopher Chiara Bottici, is the result of a process in which an initial text was developed through a collective authoring process that unfolded on Public Seminar – an online journal of ideas, politics and culture supported by The New School.

No two performances of The Art of Change are the same. Spoken dialogues within each performance are analyzed and processed on the fly through software which captures and develops the melodic and rhythmic patterns of speech to generate instrumental scores for the musicians and electronics. What is more, each evening features two guests – a thinker and a musician – who bring new perspectives and their unique vision to the work.

 

Performances:

January 16th, 8pm

January 17th, 5pm & 8pm

January 18th, 5pm & 8pm

January 21st, 8pm

 

Creative Team:

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Concept, Video Design & Composition

Chiara Bottici, Libretto

Ashley Tata, Stage Direction

Timo Rissanen, Costume Design

Abigail Hoke-Brady, Lighting Design

Thomas Goepfer, Sound & Video Design

Camilla Hoitenga, Flutes Solo

Levy Lorenzo, Creative Technologist, Percussion

 

Actors, singers and instrumentalists of The New School’s College of Performing Arts: Hayley Boggs, William Desbiens, Youngwoo Jeon, Kalun Leung, Timmy Ong, Yeji Pyun, Samuel Rachmuth, Veronica Richer, Jane Skapek (assistant director), Zachary Sebek, Alexander Theiss, Jackie Traish, Yunnan Xu

 

Guest Artists:

January 16: Simon Critchley, philosopher and Joan La Barbara, musician

January 17: Cinzia Arruzza, philosopher and Rebekah Heller, musician

January 18: Dmitri Nikulin, philosopher and Ross Karre musician

January 21: Jamieson Webster, psychoanalyst and Joan La Barbara, musician

Jan
21
Tue
The Art of Change: An Experimental Opera by Jean-Baptiste Barrière @ Ernst C. Stiefel Concert Hall, 4th floor.
Jan 21 @ 8:00 pm

The Art of Change is a bold experimental work that introduces a radically new artistic form. Starting with the traditional notion of opera as a type of work that blends music, theater, art, and design into a single form, The Art of Change brings performers and thinkers together on stage and fuses live performance with historical video footage, recorded interviews and multimedia content. All of this is woven together into a tapestry that is generative, interactive, participative, and open.

As its title suggests, the work centers on the very idea of change and presents various ways of thinking, from the very pragmatic to the most speculative, about what needs to be changed in the world today. Actors, singers, instrumentalists, designers, and philosophers come together, with the audience, to speculate on this question and the many ways in which it can be answered.

The libretto, by philosopher Chiara Bottici, is the result of a process in which an initial text was developed through a collective authoring process that unfolded on Public Seminar – an online journal of ideas, politics and culture supported by The New School.

No two performances of The Art of Change are the same. Spoken dialogues within each performance are analyzed and processed on the fly through software which captures and develops the melodic and rhythmic patterns of speech to generate instrumental scores for the musicians and electronics. What is more, each evening features two guests – a thinker and a musician – who bring new perspectives and their unique vision to the work.

 

Performances:

January 16th, 8pm

January 17th, 5pm & 8pm

January 18th, 5pm & 8pm

January 21st, 8pm

 

Creative Team:

Jean-Baptiste Barrière, Concept, Video Design & Composition

Chiara Bottici, Libretto

Ashley Tata, Stage Direction

Timo Rissanen, Costume Design

Abigail Hoke-Brady, Lighting Design

Thomas Goepfer, Sound & Video Design

Camilla Hoitenga, Flutes Solo

Levy Lorenzo, Creative Technologist, Percussion

 

Actors, singers and instrumentalists of The New School’s College of Performing Arts: Hayley Boggs, William Desbiens, Youngwoo Jeon, Kalun Leung, Timmy Ong, Yeji Pyun, Samuel Rachmuth, Veronica Richer, Jane Skapek (assistant director), Zachary Sebek, Alexander Theiss, Jackie Traish, Yunnan Xu

 

Guest Artists:

January 16: Simon Critchley, philosopher and Joan La Barbara, musician

January 17: Cinzia Arruzza, philosopher and Rebekah Heller, musician

January 18: Dmitri Nikulin, philosopher and Ross Karre musician

January 21: Jamieson Webster, psychoanalyst and Joan La Barbara, musician

Mar
29
Wed
The Paris School of Jewish Thought: An Intellectual, Philosophical, and Spiritual Renewal in the Wake of the Holocaust @ Maison Française East Gallery
Mar 29 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
In France, during the decades that followed World War II and the Shoah, an impressive attempt was made to rebuild Jewish life and thought, and to invent new ways of being Jewish in the post-Holocaust secular world. Known as the Paris School of Jewish Thought, this collective enterprise gathered an incredible variety of Jewish scholars, rabbis, philosophers, scientists, and writers, both religious and secular, from a wide range of backgrounds. This talk sheds light on the major role played by these thinkers who addressed political, philosophical, and spiritual challenges that remain relevant today.
Sophie Nordmann teaches Philosophy, Ethics, and Jewish Thought in the Department of Religious Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris (PSL University). A specialist of modern and contemporary Jewish thought, her early work focused on Judeo-German Philosophy in 20th century Europe (H. Cohen, F. Rosenzweig, M. Buber) and its extension in the United States and Israel.  Among her current projects, Dr. Nordmann studies how post WWII France became a laboratory for Jewish thinkers who undertook to rethink the modern Jewish condition after the Shoah.
This talk is co-presented by the Columbia Maison Française and the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, and sponsored by the Knapp Family Foundation.
Jun
17
Sat
Night in the Library: The Philosophy of Hip-Hop @ Central Library
Jun 17 @ 7:00 pm – Jun 18 @ 2:00 am

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop, and the beginning of a sonic, cultural and socio-political revolution that changed the U.S. and the world. To commemorate the anniversary, Brooklyn Public Library will present NIGHT IN THE LIBRARY: THE PHILOSOPHY OF HIP-HOP on Saturday, June 17th, from 7 pm – 2 am at Central Library.

Join us for this FREE event that will take over the entire Central Library building to celebrate hip-hop culture past, present and future, with keynote addresses, live DJs, film screenings, discussions, debates and contemplative engagements. BPL invites you to celebrate hip-hop and spend a NIGHT IN THE LIBRARY.

Co-curated by LeBrandon Smith and Kelly Harrison. The Dilemma Series is curated by April R. Silver, founder of AKILA WORKSONGS.