James Tappenden

Professor Tappenden has published on paradoxes, negation, vagueness, analytic truth, Frege's philosophy of mathematics and logic, and mathematical explanation. His current research principally addresses two areas: nineteenth century German philosophy, particularly the mathematician/philosopher/logician Gottlob Frege, and historically informed philosophy of mathematics, with special attention to shared themes in Bernhard Riemann's complex analysis/algebraic geometry and the mathematical foundations developed by Frege and Richard Dedekind.  The historical research supports an investigation into the metaphysics and epistemology of mathematical concepts, with special emphasis on the concept of "fruitfulness".

Papers that are representative of the current research include: "The Riemannian Background to Frege's Philosophy" in The Architecture of Modern Mathematics, J. Ferreirós & J. J. Gray eds. (Oxford University Press), "Mathematical Concepts and Definitions" and "Mathematical Concepts: Fruitfulness and Naturalness" in The Philosophy of Mathematical Practice, P. Mancosu ed. (Oxford University Press), " A Primer on Ernst Abbe for Frege Readers” Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supplementary Volume, “Infinitesimals, Magnitudes and Definition in Frege” Essays on Frege’s Basic Laws of Arithmetic Marcus Rossberg and Philip Ebert eds. Oxford University Press" and  “History of Mathematics Illuminates Philosophy of Mathematics: Riemann, Weierstrass and Mathematical Understanding” in The Richness of the History and Philosophy of Mathematics Jose Ferrieròs, Karine Chemla et. al. (Springer)

Professor Tappenden previously taught at the University of Pittsburgh, and has held visiting positions at Berkeley, Harvard, Oslo and the University of Paris VII (Diderot). In 2006-2007 he was a fellow at the Michigan Institute for the Humanities.