Paul Hasselkuß

I am a PhD student at HHU Düsseldorf, working in the philosophy of mathematics and the history and philosophy of science. In particular, my research focuses on the relationship between the epistemology of mathematics and mathematical practice. Also, I am interested in experimental philosophy and in the late Wittgenstein.

In my PhD project, I investigate whether mathematical knowledge is ultimately justified on the grounds of sensory experiences (a posteriori) or not (a priori). Although the received view makes a strong case for an a priori classification, in recent years, two challenges have emerged. Naturalism (Quine 1951; Maddy 1990) argues that mathematics is continuous with the natural sciences and, therefore, justified on sensory grounds. Practitionism (Lakatos 1976; Putnam 1979; Kitcher 1984) argues that mathematics, as practised, has many features that could not be part of an a priori science. In my thesis, I will develop an argument against Practitionism by defending a modal reading of the a priori/a posteriori distinction.

More information can be found on my personal homepage.

• Forthcoming. “What is the Epistemological Status of Computer-Assisted Proofs? An Empirically-Informed Approach.” In Mathematicians at Work: Empirically Informed Philosophy of Mathematics, edited by Deborah Kant, Deniz Sarikaya, José Antonio Pérez Escobar and Mira Sarikaya. London: Springer. Accepted for publication after peer review.
• 2022. “Familiy Resemblance and Context.“ In Platonism. Contributions of the 43rd International Wittgenstein Symposium, edited by Herbert Hrachovec and Jakub Mácha. Kirchberg am Wechsel: ALWS. 64-66.
• 2021. „Wittgensteins Begriff der Familienähnlichkeit. Interpretationen von 1960 bis heute.“ In Wittgenstein und die Philosophiegeschichte, edited by Dennis Sölch and Bernard Ritter. Freiburg: Verlag Karl Alber. 376-429. (with Markus Schrenk)