The workshop ‘Proofs, Rules, and Meanings‘ is set to take place at the University of St Andrews (School V, United College, and livestreamed via Microsoft Teams) on 11th and 12th April 2024. It explores the relationship between proofs, rules, and meanings through the lens of proof-theoretic semantics.

This workshop features:

1. the contemporary logical and philosophical dimensions of proof-theoretic semantics;
2. its historical roots and precursors; and
3. its fruitful applications in philosophy, linguistics, computer science, mathematics, and beyond.

Confirmed Speakers

• Sara Ayhan (Bochum)
• Bogdan Dicher (Lisbon) (keynote speaker)
• Catarina Dutilh Novaes (VU Amsterdam)
• Luca Incurvati (ILLC Amsterdam)
• Robin Martinot (Utrecht)
• Elaine Pimentel (UCL)
• Greg Restall (St Andrews)
• Peter Schroeder-Heister (Tübingen)
• Sara Uckelman (Durham)

Student Travel Awards

The Association of Symbolic Logic (ASL) offers (limited) student travel awards to attend this ASL-sponsored workshop. The ASL strongly encourages applications from women and members of minority groups.

Applicants must be student members of the ASL. Applications must be recieved by 10th January 2024. For more details, see: https://aslonline.org/meetings/student-travel-awards/

Concept and Schedule

Emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of the topics covered, we aim to bring together researchers of any level of seniority from a range of related areas, including philosophical logic, mathematical and computational proof theory, and the history of logic. There will be two types of speaker slots: (1) short slots of 25 minutes (plus 15 minutes Q&A), reserved for senior researchers and technical talks; and (2) long slots of 40 minutes (plus 20 minutes Q&A), reserved for early-career researchers. A schedule will be follow soon.

Registration

This will be a hybrid workshop. Registration details will follow soon.

Partners

The workshop is organised in partnership with the St Andrews Metaphysics and Logic Research Group, and the St Andrews Medieval Logic Research Group. It is funded by the Arché Research Centre, the Scots Philosophical Association, and the Association for Symbolic Logic (ASL).

Background

Proof-theoretic semantics is a research programme that aims to determine the meaning of linguistic expressions by analysing their inferential use. It was inspired by general proof theory, the logical research programme that led to the development of the sequent calculus and natural deduction systems. Proof-theoretic semantics was subsequently given its name by Peter Schroeder-Heister (one of our speakers) in 1987. Since then, it has become a vibrant research field in philosophical, mathematical, computational and linguistic logic.