bonnaycv

Short CV

I defended my PhD on November 16, 2006, and my dissertation aims at providing a characterization of the class of logical constants. Before that, I studied philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (1997-2002). I have a M.A. in the philosophy of science (2001, University Paris I) and a M.Sc. in mathematical logic (2002, University Paris VII). I have spent some time as a visiting student at UCLA in the Department of Linguistics during Spring 2005 and I was a visisting researcher at the ILLC in Amsterdam in Fall 2007. After finishing my dissertation, I have been working as a lecturer in the Department of Cognitive Science at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at University Paris Ouest-Nanterre.

Here is my resume in English (as of sept 2008) or a short version in French there.

PhD

Title: What is a Logical Constant?

Comittee: Johan van Benthem, Jacques Dubucs, Gerhard Heinzmann, Gabriel Sandu, Gila Sher, Dag Westerståhl.

Preliminary reports: Solomon Feferman, Gerhard Heinzmann.

Defended on novembre 16, 2006, summa cum laude

Abstract:

The problem of the characterization of the class of logical constants is one of the major issues in the philosophy of logic. The definition of the notion of logical consequence, in particular, depends on the delimitation of the boundary between logical and non-logical expressions. On the standard semantic approach to this problem, logical operations are characterized as operations which are invariant under permutation. The aim of this work is to assess the conceptual grounds of this thesis and the objections which have been raised in the literature. On the basis of a revision of the justifications of the thesis, we defend an alternative characterization of logical constants in terms of invariance under potential isomorphism. This new thesis is meant to account for the generality of logic and its lack of empirical and, in some sense to be made precise, of mathematical content.