Kenneth Manders

  • Emeritus Associate Professor of Philosophy

Kenneth Manders (PhD, UC-Berkeley, 1978) is associate professor of philosophy, with a secondary appointment in history and philosophy of science, and fellow of the Center for Philosophy of Science. He currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies. He was a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and NEH fellow, and has held a NATO postdoctoral fellowship in science (at Utrecht), a NSF mathematical sciences postdoctoral fellowship (at Yale), and a Howard Foundation Fellowship. His research interests lie in the philosophy, history, and foundations of mathematics; and in general questions on relations between intelligibility, content, and representational or conceptual casting. He is currently working on a book on geometrical representation, centering on Descartes. He has published a number of articles on philosophy of mathematics, history of mathematics, model theory, philosophy of science, measurement theory, and the theory of computational complexity.

Representative Publications

Manders, K. and L. Adleman. NP-complete decision problems for binary quadratics. Journal of Computer and System Sciences 16 (1978), pp. 168-84. Interpretations and the model theory of the classical geometries. In: G. Mueller and M. Richter, eds., Models and Sets. Springer Lecture Notes in Mathematics 1103 (1984), pp. 297-330. Domain extension and the philosophy of mathematics. Journal of Philosophy 86 (1989), pp. 553-62. Diagram-Based Geometric Practice. Chapter 3 in P. Mancosu, ed., The Philosophy of Mathematical Practice. Oxford Univ Pr, 2008, pp. 65–79. The Euclidean Diagram (1995). Chapter 4 in P. Mancosu, ed., The Philosophy of Mathematical Practice. Oxford Univ Pr, 2008, pp. 80–133.