Schedule (subject to change)

Week 1

Tue, Sep 1
  • Introduction
  • History of writing systems
  • Additional readings:
    • Peter Damerow, "The origins of writing as problem of historical epistemology", Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, 2006: 1. (pdf)
Thu, Sep 3
  • No class

Notational systems (Goodman, Languages of Art)

Week 2

Tue, Sep 8
  • C.S. Peirce, "What is a sign?"
  • Goodman, ch. 1, "Reality remade"
Thu, Sep 10
  • Goodman, ch. 2, "The sound of pictures"
  • Additional readings on metaphors and analogies:
    • Dedre Gentner, "Structure-mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy." Cognitive Science, 7(2):155–170. 1983.

Week 3

Tue, Sep 15
  • Goodman, ch. 3, "Art and authenticity"
  • Goodman, ch. 4, "Theory of notation", sec. 1–4
Thu, Sep 17
  • Goodman, ch. 4, "Theory of notation", sec. 5–10
  • Additional readings on metaphors and analogies:
    • Emily Grosholz, "Productive Ambiguity: Galileo contra Carnap", Ch. 1 of Representation and productive ambiguity in mathematics and the sciences, Oxford University Press, 2007. (pp.1–32.)

Week 4

Tue, Sep 22
  • Goodman, ch. 5, "Score, sketch, and script"
  • Goodman, ch. 6, "Art and the understanding"
Thu, Sep 24
  • Discussion on Goodman

Analogies

Week 5

Tue, Sep 29
  • Dirk Schlimm, "Two ways of analogy: Extending the study of analogies to mathematical domains". Philosophy of Science, 75(2):178–200. April 2008. (online)

Writing systems (Sampson, Writing Systems)

Thu, Oct 1
  • Sampson, ch. 1, "Introduction"

Week 6

Tue, Oct 6
  • Sampson, ch. 2, "Theoretical preliminaries"
Thu, Oct 8
  • Sampson, ch. 3, "The earliest writing"

Week 7

Tue, Oct 13
  • Sampson, ch. 4, "A syllabic system: Linear B"
Thu, Oct 15
  • Sampson, ch. 5, "Consonantial writing"

Week 8

Tue, Oct 20
  • Sampson, ch. 6, "The Graeco-Roman alphabet"
Thu, Oct 22
  • Sampson, ch. 8, "A logographic system: Chinese writing"

Numeral systems

Week 9

Tue, Oct 27
  • Mathematical cognition
  • The number sense in infants and animals
  • Readings:
    • Fayol and Seron, "About numerical representations"
    • Brysbaert, "Number recognition in different formats"
Thu, Oct 29
  • A fictional history of numeral systems
  • Different kinds of numeral systems: Alphabetic, additive, positional
  • Readings:
    • Carl Boyer, "Foundations", 1944.
    • Stephen Crisomalis, 2004.

Week 10

Tue, Nov 3
  • The Babylonian sexagesimal system
  • Arithmetical operations (reciprocals)
  • Different roles of zero
  • Representation of large numbers
Thu, Nov 5
  • Roman numerals
  • Arithmetical operations
  • Readings:
    • Schlimm and Neth, 2008.
    • Schlimm and Lengnink, 2010.

Number words

Week 11

Tue, Nov 10
  • Syntax and semantics
Thu, Nov 12
  • Number words
  • Readings:
    • Greenberg, "Generalizations about numeral systems"

Notational systems in chemistry

Week 12

Tue, Nov 17
  • Crosland
Thu, Nov 19
  • Crosland

Presentations

Week 13

Tue, Nov 24
  • Project presentations (4)
Thu, Nov 26
  • Project presentations (4)

Additional topics

Week 14

Tue, Dec 1
  • tba
Instructors:
Brendan Gillon
Department of Linguistics
1085 Dr. Penfield, R. 119
Dirk Schlimm
Department of Philosophy
Leacock 916

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