Syed

Biography

My fascination with traditional and critical ideas in philosophy and logic has, and continues to, define my major life choices. Having dedicated four years, as an undergraduate and MSc student, to these and related fields, I am now furthering my study of philosophy and logic though a doctoral program of research; which I hope will facilitate my long-term aspiration to teach these disciplines as a university professor and of continuing my research into a ripe old age. In June 2007, I completed a BA with Honours degree in Philosophy and Social Sciences at the University of Manchester. My dissertation, 'The Predicament of Deductive Logic', investigated the problem of justifying deductive logical systems. As part of the MSc in Mathematical Logic and Theory of Computation that I attained from the University of Manchester in 2009, I completed a thesis: 'Indian Logic: A Contemporary Perspective'. This involved a modern formalization for Navya-Nyāya, based on Gangeśopādhyāya’s (the most prominent Naiyāyika logician) theory of inference.  As with any logical calculus, Navya-Nyāya consists of formal syntax and semantics. In the thesis, I defined a concept of semantic consequence based on Gangeśa’s theory of pervasion, and hence, of syntactical consequence. I am currently enrolled for the doctoral degree at the University of Canterbury, and investigating non-western modes of rationality, particularly the Buddhist logic system called 'Catuṣkoṭi', which offers four possibilities of a situation – it can be true, false, both true and false simultaneously, or neither- to develop a formal logical calculus.  Recently I have published a book titled Colonization of Indian Art and S. M. Sultan, exploring the impact colonisation had on post sixteenth-century Indian art and philosophical discussions around the effects. My fascination with traditional and critical ideas in philosophy and logic has, and continues to, define my major life choices. Having dedicated four years, as an undergraduate and MSc student, to these and related fields, I am now furthering my study of philosophy and logic though a doctoral program of research; which I hope will facilitate my long-term aspiration to teach these disciplines as a university professor and of continuing my research into a ripe old age. In June 2007, I completed a BA with Honours degree in Philosophy and Social Sciences at the University of Manchester. My dissertation, 'The Predicament of Deductive Logic', investigated the problem of justifying deductive logical systems. As part of the MSc in Mathematical Logic and Theory of Computation that I attained from the University of Manchester in 2009, I completed a thesis: 'Indian Logic: A Contemporary Perspective'. This involved a modern formalization for Navya-Nyāya, based on Gangeśopādhyāya’s (the most prominent Naiyāyika logician) theory of inference.  As with any logical calculus, Navya-Nyāya consists of formal syntax and semantics. In the thesis, I defined a concept of semantic consequence based on Gangeśa’s theory of pervasion, and hence, of syntactical consequence. I am currently enrolled for the doctoral degree at the University of Canterbury, and investigating non-western modes of rationality, particularly the Buddhist logic system called 'Catuṣkoṭi', which offers four possibilities of a situation – it can be true, false, both true and false simultaneously, or neither- to develop a formal logical calculus.  Recently I have published a book titled Colonization of Indian Art and S. M. Sultan, exploring the impact colonisation had on post sixteenth-century Indian art and philosophical discussions around the effects.

Research Interest

Philosophy of Logic, Mathematical Logic, Indian Logic, Indian Philosophy, Philosophical of Language, Philosophy of Decolonization