Descripción

The International Workshop on Topological Ontology will be held on February 11-12, 2020, at the University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU. It is organized by Janusz Kaczmarek (University of Lodz, Poland), Thomas Mormann (PRAXIS University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain), Frank Zenker (International Center for Formal Ontology, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland) and Bartłomiej Skowron (International Center for Formal Ontology, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland). 

"Geometry has played an important role in philosophy ever since the time of Plato. Concepts borrowed from geometry, such as space, shape, size, continuity, proximity and transformation, have been and remain an indispensable ingredient of many philosophical considerations, as can be seen from such central philosophical areas as ontology, epistemology and semantics.

Starting with the advent of Non-Euclidean geometries in the 19 th century, classical geometry as a mathematical discipline has experienced an immense generalization and expansion: one that has elevated it – under the name of topology – to being one of the most important and actively researched areas within modern mathematics. This prompts the question of whether topology – as the contemporary form of geometry – could possess a relevance for questions of contemporary philosophy similar to that which geometry itself had for classical philosophy.

The aim of this workshop is to highlight and explore grounds for thinking that this question of fundamental importance can be answered in the affirmative. More precisely, it hopes to show that the concepts and techniques of modern topology can be fruitfully employed when tackling problems in contemporary ontology and metaphysics.

The workshop will focus specifically (but not exclusively) on the following issues: topological aspects of part-whole relations (mereology, mereotopology); the metaphysics of time, events and substance; topological aspects of concepts such as causality, possibility and necessity; process ontology; identity, similarity and change; qualities, forms and universals; and problems of determinism/indeterminism."

The programme for the conference can be found in the website of the International Center for Formal Ontology (ICFO):

http://www.icfo.ans.pw.edu.pl/en/?page_id=2854

For further information, please contact the organizers or check the website below:

http://www.icfo.ans.pw.edu.pl/en/?page_id=2427