Bob Riehemann -- Social Justice, Mathematics and Reductionism

Regular monthly meeting of ART. Join us for lunch & further discussion afterwards at Parker's.

There are many intersections between philosophy and applied mathematics. Social decisions about drug safety or economic policy posit mathematical models to measure their effectiveness and safety. This is, unsurprisingly, only part of the issue because the decision about which policies to use -- of which there are usually infinitely many -- are based on prior philosophical and ethical concerns.

This paper discusses the uses of philosophy to choose such measures and considers the oft-stated (negative) critique of "reductionism." We consider Rawls' Theory of Justice, Hobbes' Social Contract and the work of economists Amartya Sen and Kenneth Binmore, among others. In particular, we suggest that standard courses in statistics in the college/ university level should include explicit information and discussion of the philosophical and ethical considerations (including appropriate references to philosophical literature) inherent in most hypothesis testing relating to health and well-being.

Bio: Bob is a local boy, born in Covington, Kentucky. There are two women in his life, Johannah the librarian who made Bob a grandpa and Sophia, who taught him about Japanese culture with her college education. He began college at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and used to be a jazz drummer; piano is his instrument of choice now. He started studying physics and mathematics after he learned that it was easier than loading trucks and that it paid better than music. He was a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Fellow and did experimental research on superconductivity. Studying quantum field theory in solid state physics, he got a Master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati but decided that mathematicians were smarter. He is sometimes playful and this ultimately resulted in a Ph.D. in combinatorial game theory at the University of Kentucky. Once upon a time he had the pompous sounding title of Senior Technical Consultant for a multi-national corporation. He is glad to be over that part and finds that teaching is more fun.