CfR: Online Workshop “The Normativity of the Formal”
Date & Format: Friday, December 5, 2026 / online via Zoom.
More information and registration: https://sites.google.com/view/normform/home
Scope & Motivation
The formal sciences — logic, mathematics and related disciplines — are often assumed to be neutral, purely descriptive or analytic. Yet they also have a distinctly normative dimension: they set standards of validity, proof, and consistency which shape how reasoning proceeds, how inquiry is structured, and what counts as acceptable in formal contexts. Questions and topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
– What kinds of normativity (standards, rules, prescriptions) are inherent in formal systems (syntactic rules, symbol manipulation, proof procedures)?
– How do practices in mathematics and logic instantiate or challenge normative claims (what must be done, what is allowed, what is not)?
– Are the norms of the formal sciences grounded in objective necessity, or do they arise from human convention, social practice, or linguistic usage?
– What is the role of formal structures in shaping knowledge, and how does their normative dimension influence the production of knowledge?
– How do formal norms operate outside “pure” mathematics in applied mathematics, formal modelling, data science, computer science etc. and what are their implications for explanation, description, and justification?
– Sociological, historical, philosophical, semiotic perspectives on mathematical normativity: how do communities, practices, cultures shape what counts as a valid proof or an acceptable formal system?
– Case studies of formal normativity: e.g., the development of axiomatic systems, changes in proof convention, normative shifts in modelling practices in bigdata or algorithmic environments.
– We welcome contributions from philosophy of mathematics, logic, philosophy of science, semiotics, sociology of mathematics, history of mathematics and related fields.
Keynotes / Invited Speakers
– Colin Jakob Rittberg (VUB)
– Paul Ernest (University of Exeter)
– Jordi Fairhurst (UIB)
– José Antonio Pérez‑Escobar (UNED)
– Sander Pouliart (VUB)
Schedule (Brussels time)
14:00–14:15 – Introduction (Vincent Vincke)
14:15–14:45 – Talk 1 (Colin Rittberg)
14:45–15:15 – Talk 2 (Paul Ernest)
15:15–15:45 – Break
15:45–16:15 – Talk 3 (Jordi Fairhurst)
16:15–16:45 – Talk 4 (José Antonio Pérez-Escobar)
16:45–17:15 – Break
17:15–17:45 – Talk 5 (Sander Pouliart)
17:55–18:00 – Closure (Vincent Vincke)
Audience & Participation
The workshop is open to researchers and advanced students working on formal sciences (mathematics, logic, computer science) or the philosophy, sociology and history of those disciplines.
Participation is free but registration is required: https://sites.google.com/view/normform/home
Organisers:
Vincent Vincke (VUB) & Deniz Sarikaya (Universität zu Lübeck & VUB)
Endorsed by: Young Network for Wittgensteinian Philosophy
Supported by: FWO-project “The Epistemology of Big Data: Mathematics and the Critical Research Agenda on Data Practices”
