Symbolic Systems Forum - Marc Pauly, Philosophy Department

Marc Pauly, Philosophy Department

"Bonn vs. Berlin, and Other Dilemmas of Voting"

ABSTRACT:

In 1991, after reunification, the German parliament had to decide whether to

keep Bonn as the German capital or to move (back) to Berlin. I will report

on the voting procedure that was used in deciding this question, raising

some more general procedural issues. As a second example of a voting

dilemma, I consider the doctrinal paradox (also known as discursive

dilemma) and the problem of aggregating individual judgments into a

collective group judgment. I will discuss how formal logic may help in

answering some of the questions raised by these dilemmas.

BIO:

Professor Pauly is a Symbolic Systems alumnus, from the class of 1996. He

recently returned to Stanford as Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and

will be teaching the department's logic course series this academic year.

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED AFTERWARD