Andrew Y. Lee, assistant professor on the College of Toronto, is the winner of the 2024 Sanders Prize in Metaphysics.
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Professor Lee was awarded the prize for “A Puzzle About Sums“. Right here’s the summary of the paper:
A well-known mathematical theorem says that the sum of an infinite collection of numbers can rely on the order wherein these numbers happen. Suppose we interpret the numbers in such a collection as representing cases of some bodily amount, such because the weights of a set of things. The arithmetic appears to result in the consequence that the burden of a set of things can rely on the order wherein these gadgets are weighed. However that could be very laborious to consider! A puzzle then arises: How will we interpret the metaphysical significance of this mathematical theorem? I first argue that prior options to the puzzle result in implausible penalties. Then I develop my very own answer, the place the fundamental concept is that the burden of a set of things is the same as the restrict of the weights of its finite subcollections contained inside ever-expanding areas of house. I present how my answer is intuitively believable and philosophically motivated, the way it reveals an underexplored line of metaphysical inquiry about portions and areas, and the way it elucidates some traditional puzzles regarding supertasks.
The prize, which is run by Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers) contains publication of the paper in Oxford Studies in Metaphysics in addition to $5000.
You may be taught extra in regards to the prize and see the earlier winners here.
