- Jody Azzouni
Jody Azzouni (born Jawad Azzouni
9 April 1954 , inNew York City ) is an Americanphilosopher , short fiction writer, and poet. He currently is Professor of Philosophy atTufts University .Education
He received his
bachelor's degree andMaster's Degree fromNew York University and his PhD from theCity University of New York .Current Work and Philosophical Positions
Azzouni is currently working on the philosophy of
mathematics (he holds a degree in mathematics),science ,logic ,language and in areas ofmetaphysics ,epistemology , andaesthetics . He acknowledges, as do many of his peers, a debt to the renowned philosopher,Willard Van Orman Quine . Azzouni is of the nominalist bent and has centered much of his philosophical efforts around defendingnominalism . One of his most distinctive positions is the as yet controversial claim that mathematical objects don't exist. Yet, unlikeHartry Field , he believes that the existence claims of mathematics are in fact literally true. That is, some of theexistential quantifier s in our ordinary speech carryontological commitment , but some don't. There is no standard way to indicate which are which, but we can generally tell by context. When someone asks "How manyprime number s are there between 10 and 20?", we understand it in the non-committing way, and answer "4". However, when asked "Are there actually any numbers?", we understand it in the committing way, and he suggests we should answer "No".Other work
In addition to his philosophical endeavors, Azzouni has published numerous short stories. His book of poetry entitled "The Lust For Blueprints" contains his signature mix of humor and the macabre.
Books
Philosophy
* "Metaphysical Myths, Mathematical Practice: The Ontology and Epistemology of the Exact Sciences" (1994)
* "Knowledge and Reference in Empirical Science" (2000)
* "Deflating Existential Consequence: A Case for Nominalism" (2004)
* "Tracking Reason: Proof, Consequence and Truth" (2006)Poetry
* "The Lust for Blueprints" The Poet's Press (1999) ISBN-10 0922558078 ISBN-13 978-0922558070
External links
* [http://www.azzouni.com/CorePage.HTM Jody Azzouni's poetry Web site]
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