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News

Catching Up With Yann Benétreau-Dupin

Posted on October 19, 2021 by center_admin

yann benetreau-dupin

Our Featured Former Fellows Lunchtime Talk series continues next week on Oct.26 when we’ll be joined by Yann Benétreau-Dupin.  Yann was a Postdoc Fellow at the Center during the 2016-17 year.  What’s he up to these days? Find out below, and of course
join us for Yann’s talk.

 

 

1. Where are you now?

I now work as a Senior Editor for PLOS ONE, the large, multidisciplinary, open-access journal of the Public Library of Science (PLOS). As of this writing, I am working from home just a few miles away from my office—still almost empty because of the pandemic—in San Francisco.

I am also a visiting researcher at San Francisco State University, where I previously worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor right after I left the Center.

2.  What are you working on?

At PLOS ONE, I oversee the peer-review process for some of the many thousand submissions we receive each year: I select submissions that are ready for peer-review, help ensure that our articles meet our publication criteria for rigor, ethics, and data availability. In short, I tackle the reproducibility crisis one paper at a time.

As one of two dozen staff editors, I help define the editorial policies of a multidisciplinary journal that welcomes all rigorous science, regardless of how novel or impactful the findings are. I work more specifically in the behavioral and social sciences team, along with psychologists, an economist, and a neuroscientist.

For instance, I recently led the development of registered reports as a new article type at the journal, a format whereby papers are reviewed both before and after the empirical part of the work so as to improve transparency in reporting and minimize publication bias (you can find more details about it here).

Occasionally, I have to follow specific submissions very closely, particularly when they deal with sensitive topics that could easily be misinterpreted in the media (see for instance this article on police deadly use of force for which we commissioned a formal comment to help contextualize the results).

With colleagues at SFSU (Isabelle Peschard and Chris Wessels), I am working on a book on the philosophy of risk. It should come to a bookstore or classroom near you next year or so, perhaps? This project grew out of an undergraduate class that works well to introduce students, non-majors in particular, to issues in epistemology, philosophy of science, but also ethics.

3. Favorite memory of The Center?

It’s difficult to pick just one favorite memory from my time at the Center, between the city of Pittsburgh itself, the vibrant philosophy community both at Pitt and CMU, an office window with Gothic arches, the incredible talk series, or a formal epistemology workshop on ignorance I was fortunate enough to organize with John Norton and Lee Elkin.

My favorite memory of the Center is probably the Fellows’ reading group weekly sessions where we talked in depth, in a collegial but lively way, about our research in progress, in turn.

4. Greatest non-professional achievement since leaving the Center?

I have become an amateur developmental psychologist (see photo).

5. Best book/movie/tv you’ve seen this year?

After more than a year trapped at home I feel like I have to answer Groundhog Day, no? Other than that, I found Michael Sandel’s Tyranny of Merit thought-provoking and unsettling (and somewhat uncomfortable), in a good way.

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Visiting Fellowships 2022-23

Posted on October 15, 2021 by center_admin

If you’ve ever wanted to join the Center community as a Visiting Fellow, we are now accepting applications for the 2022-23 academic year!

Visiting Fellows have no formal duties. They are expected to pursue their own research, to give a lunchtime talk, and to participate in the intellectual life of the Center by attending talks and discussions.

We encourage all interested philosophers of science to apply.  We particularly welcome submissions from members of underrepresented groups.

Deadline for applications is December 12, 2021.

For more details and to apply….

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Postdoc Fellowships 2022-23

Posted on October 12, 2021 by center_admin

Applications are now open for Postdoc Fellowships for the 2022-23 academic year!

Postdoctoral Fellowships enable philosophers of science within five years of their doctorates to spend a two-term academic year working in the Center for Philosophy of Science on a project in philosophy of science that they nominate. Two Postdoctoral Fellowships are offered each year.

The Center encourages applications from assistant professors in the early stages of their careers as well as from scholars with newly awarded doctorates. We particularly welcome submissions from members of underrepresented groups.

Deadline for applications is December 12, 2021.

For more details and to apply….

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Catching Up With Peter Vickers

Posted on September 22, 2021 by center_admin

peter vickers 2021Next week we’ll be kicking off our new Lunchtime Talk series Featured Former Fellows! These online-only talks will occur throughout the year and reunite our Center community with past Fellows from around the globe.

Our first Featured Former Fellow will be Peter Vickers on Tuesday, Sept. 28. Peter was a postdoc Fellow at the Center in 2010-11 under then-Center Director John D. Norton. We sat down with Peter ahead of his talk to catch up with him.

1. Where are you now?

University of Durham, UK

2.  What are you working on?

Just in the very final stages of completing a monograph entitled “Identifying Future-Proof Science.”

3.  What is your favorite memory of The Center?

So many!

If I had to pick one: Probably February 2011, being grilled on my 5000 words by John Norton and the 2010-11 Fellows in the Center reading group. An experience I’ll never forget!

4. What would you say is your greatest non-professional achievement since leaving the Center?

Raising two kids, now aged 7 and 9. I also ran a 50 mile ultramarathon in the mountains of Wales, but that’s nothing compared with raising kids!

5. Best book/movie/tv you’ve read/seen this year?

TV: My Octopus Teacher
Fiction Book: “Normal People” (Sally Rooney)
Non-fiction book: “Other Minds” (Peter Godfrey-Smith)

Click here for details and to register for Peter’s talk.

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Senior Visiting Fellow Conference Announced

Posted on September 15, 2021 by center_admin

We are pleased to announce the date and topic of this year’s Senior Visiting Fellow conference, designed by our current SVF Heather Douglas.

heather douglasInstitutions and the Scientific Research Agenda
April 8-10, 2022

“Which scientific research gets pursued, and the details of how it gets pursued, is greatly influenced by the institutional structures which support science. By institutions, we mean those established social structures that direct resources (of various kinds, from money to intellectual property to ethical approval to jobs) for science. Key institutions for shaping the scientific research agenda include universities, funding agencies, and patent offices. This workshop will focus on what these institutions should be aiming to do and how should they do it.”

Keynote speakers will be: David Guston (ASU), Joyce Havstad (Utah), Shobita Parthasarathy (U Michigan), and Alison Wylie (UBC)

The programming committee is also accepting proposals for additional participants in the conference now through November 20, 2021.

More details

 

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The Center’s COVID Plan, Fall Term 2021

Posted on August 25, 2021 by center_admin

mask up

This Fall we will welcome back back in-person Fellows and in-person events in compliance with the University’s COVID-19 guidelines, with additional precautions added.

All individuals, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a face covering in campus buildings, except while eating or drinking in a designated dining area and when in an enclosed private space (e.g., private study room or private office.)

Non-Pitt individuals who want to attend our in-person talks must send an email in advance to Katie Labuda (kathleenlabuda@pitt.edu) requesting Guest Building Access, or you will not be able to enter the Cathedral of Learning.

Lunchtime Talks will take place in person. The speaker as well as the attendees will be masked during the whole talk and Q&A. Contact tracing will be in place and we will ask you to write down your name and email on a sign-in sheet. We will also stream the talks on YouTube livestream, and you will have the option of attending and possibly asking questions through Zoom. Zoom links will be posted to our calendar.

For now, we will not offer food during the talks. To-go snacks will be provided at 11:50am for you to take back to your office and eat before or after the talk. So that the audience can remain masked, there will be no eating during the talk itself.

Lunchtime talks will be on a slightly compacted schedule: Food will be available at 11:50am. The talk will start at 12:10 and end at 1:00pm sharp. Q&A will be from 1:00pm to 1:30pm.

Most Annual Lecture Series talks will be in person, but a few might be on line. Attendees will be masked, and contact tracing in place. In person talks will also be streamed. Zoom links will be posted to our calendar.

Workshops & Conferences will be in person and attendees will be masked.

Several Online Only events will be offered throughout the year, namely The Center Debates series and the Featured Former Fellow Lunchtime Talk.  See calendar for details.

These policies may change during the semester in light of the pandemic and Pitt’s guidelines.

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Goodbye Alex!

Posted on August 24, 2021 by center_admin

We are sad to announce that Alex Magee, our amazing Program Administrator, has left the Center to take a new position in Pitt’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

Alex joined the Center just one month before the pandemic shut down our operations in 2020, so most of you will only be familiar with her as a friendly face on Zoom.  However, behind the scenes, Alex was an incredible asset to the Center’s operations.  We will miss her diligence and unflagging dedication to the Center’s programs, but we congratulate her on her new position!

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Call For Papers – Particle Physics Conference

Posted on August 10, 2021 by center_admin

phep 2021

The CFP for our Early Career Conference in Philosophy of Particle & High Energy Physics (Nov. 6 – Sunday, Nov.7, 2021) is now open.

Proposals for contributed talks are invited on any topic within the general area of high-energy and particle physics, construed broadly to include cosmology, astrophysics and quantum field theory insofar as they overlap with issues in particle physics.

Learn more about the PHEP conference here.

 

 

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Welcome 2021 Fellows

Posted on August 3, 2021 by center_admin

The Center is pleased to announce our Fall 2021 Visiting Fellows. We are very excited and hopeful that this will be the first group of Fellows to return to in-person work at the Center since Spring 2020. Please join us in welcoming them to Pittsburgh!

Senior Visiting Fellow:
Heather Douglas, Michigan State University

Anthony Beavers, University of Evansville
Hyunduek Cheon, Seoul National University
Brian McLoone, Higher School of Economics
Matthew Parker, University of Western Ontario
Darrell Rowbottom, Lingnan University

PostDoc Fellows:
Ravit Dotan, UC Berkeley
Aydin Mohseni, UC Irvine

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Thanks, PSP students!

Posted on July 22, 2021 by center_admin

psp5

The fifth annual Pittsburgh Summer Program in Philosophy of Science for Underrepresented Groups wrapped up last week, and a great (and intellectually stimulating) time was had by all.  Once again, the PSP program had to take place on Zoom, but that didn’t keep our students from being enthusiastic, engaged, and engaging.  Thank you, PSP5 cohort (and faculty)!  Stop by and visit us soon.

Fabio Cabrera, Cornell University
Lawrence Cao, Johns Hopkins University
Joe Ding, Haverford College
Liz Frissell, Occidental College
Eva Gockowski, University of Pittsburgh
Roosevelt Lai, Beloit College
Clyde LeMoine, University of South Carolina
Kota Lowe, Bard College
Kaidi Pan, University of Chicago
Patrick Pan, University of Cambridge
Sophie Pollack-Milgate, Brown University
Jiarui Qu, UCLA
Hassan Saleemi, University of Illinois at Chicago
Emily Scholfield, Bucknell University
Zeke Vergara, Dartmouth College

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The First Issue of Philosophy of Medicine

Posted on July 15, 2021 by center_admin

The first issue of Philosophy of Medicine (sponsored in part by The Center) has been published.

Philosophy of Medicine is an open-access journal that publishes exceptional original philosophical research and perspectives on all aspects of medicine, including medical research and practices. Through its public-facing section The Examination Room, it also publishes content for the wider public, including health professionals and health scientists.

The mission of Philosophy of Medicine is to serve as the flagship journal for the field by advancing research in philosophy of medicine, by engaging widely with medicine, health sciences and the public, and by providing open-access content for all without charging authors publication fees.

The Journal was started in 2020 by Alex Broadbent and Jonathan Fuller and is published through Open Journal Systems (OJS) by the University of Pittsburgh Library System.

Read the issue here: http://philmed.pitt.edu/philmed/issue/view/3

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PSP5

Posted on May 29, 2021 by center_admin

Announcing our student cohort for the 5th annual Pittsburgh Summer Program in Philosophy of Science for Underrepresented Groups

Fabio Cabrera, Cornell University
Lawrence Cao, Johns Hopkins University
Joe Ding, Haverford College
Liz Frissell, Occidental College
Eva Gockowski, University of Pittsburgh
Roosevelt Lai, Beloit College
Clyde LeMoine, University of South Carolina
Kota Lowe, Bard College
Kaidi Pan, University of Chicago
Patrick Pan, University of Cambridge
Sophie Pollack-Milgate, Brown University
Jiarui Qu, UCLA
Hassan Saleemi, University of Illinois at Chicago
Emily Scholfield, Bucknell University
Zeke Vergara, Dartmouth College

Congratulations, students!  We’re looking forward to meeting you all.

The PSP will take place virtually from July 12-16.  Participating faculty are Michael Dietrich, Jonathan Fuller, Lisa Parker, Edouard Machery, Sandra D. Mitchell, John D. Norton, and Erica Schumener from the University of Pittsburgh, Christopher Weaver from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and Wayne Wu of CMU.

Learn more about the Pittsburgh Summer Program here.

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Ryan Nefdt’s New Book

Posted on May 11, 2021 by center_admin

Ryan Nefdt (Univ. of Cape Town), a Spring 2021 Visiting Fellow, has edited and contributed a chapter to a newly-published work on philosophy of language.

The Philosophy and Science of Language, part of the “Interdisciplinary Perspectives” series, is available now from Springer.

This volume brings together a diverse range of scholars to address important philosophical and interdisciplinary questions in the study of language. Linguistics throughout history has been a conduit to the study of the mind, brain, societal structure, literature and history itself. The epistemic and methodological transfer between the sciences and humanities in regards to linguistics has often been documented, but the underlying philosophical issues have not always been adequately addressed.

The volume also features new work by Center Resident Fellow Kate Stanton (Univ. of Pittsburgh, Philosophy.)  See Springer’s website for more details and to order.

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Hannah Rubin Wins NSF Grant

Posted on April 28, 2021 by center_admin

Hannah Rubin (Spring 2021 Visiting Fellow) has been awarded a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation.

The grant begins this summer and the topic is: “Race, Gender, and the Science of Science.”  An excerpt from her abstract is below.  Congratulations, Hannah!

 

hannah rubinThe “science of science” has recently exploded in popularity as researchers turn scientific methods of investigation around to investigate the practice of science itself. While some attention has been paid to issues of marginalization and representation, these concerns have generally not been brought to bear on other questions within the science of science regarding how to enhance scientific progress. The research component of this project fills the resulting gaps in our understanding. The project demonstrates when attempts to improve science not only further entrench (or even amplify) current injustices, but backfire, ultimately impeding scientific progress. Moreover, it examines how ideas spread throughout diverse communities, both providing insight into how current inequities hinder scientific progress and illuminating questions surrounding belief spread and polarization. Finally, it uncovers hidden, unsuspected roadblocks for marginalized groups and suggests potential remedies, promoting diversity in scientific fields. This research component is intertwined with teaching and outreach components, with initiatives including the development of courses discussing diverse methods used to investigate scientific practice (e.g., from philosophy, history, sociology, science of science), a national workshop for members of underrepresented/marginalized groups intending to pursue research in the science of science, and innovative K-12 STEM programming which demonstrates the importance of diversity in action.

This project employs tools from evolutionary game theory and network science to provide a picture of how aspects of social identity, e.g. race and gender, matter both to scientific progress and to how researchers scientifically investigate the institution of science. 

 

 

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2021- 22 Fellows Announced!

Posted on March 17, 2021 by center_admin

The Center is pleased to announce our list of the Fellows who will be joining us for the 2021-22 academic year.  We’re especially happy to have some past visitors back with us in new roles.  Many more details will follow, but for now, here is the complete list:

Senior Visiting Fellow
Heather Douglas, Michigan State University

Fall Visiting Fellows
Brian McLoone, Higher School Economics (Moscow)
Anthony Beavers, University of Evansville
Matthew Parker, University of Western Ontario
Darrell Rowbottom, Lingnan University
Hyundeuk Cheon, Seoul National University

Spring Visiting Fellows
Leonardo Bich, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Laura Menatti Passages UMR 5319 CNRS (Bordeaux)
Eugen Fisher, University of East Anglia
Ruth Kastner, University of Maryland
Serife Tekin, UT at San Antonio

Postdocs
Ravit Dotan, UC Berkeley
Aydin Mohseni, UC Irvine

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Podcast With Riet Van Bork

Posted on March 12, 2021 by center_admin

One of this year’s post-doc Fellows, Riet Van Bork, sat down with two University of Amsterdam undergraduates for a podcast interview on how the current pandemic times influence different research areas, and other things.  Enjoy!

 

Podcast: Let’s Mingle #1 – The Rainbow

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New Fellows’ Publications

Posted on February 23, 2021 by center_admin

Congrats to our Visiting Fellows Hannah Rubin and Chris Weaver for their recent publications!

You can find Hannah Rubin’s new publication “Reintroducing Kin Selection to the Human Behavioral Sciences” in the Jan. 2021 issue of Philosophy of Science and Prof. Christopher Weaver’s paper “In Praise of Clausius Entropy: Reassessing the Foundations of Boltzmannian Statistical Mechanics” will be forthcoming in Foundations of Physics.

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Archival Fellowship

Posted on February 22, 2021 by center_admin

archives of scientific philosophy
Courtesy of the ULS

The Summer Archival Fellowship is open for applications.

This unique position will give the appointee the opportunity to work with the University of Pittsburgh Library System’s one-of-a-kind Archives of Scientific Philosophy.  Here you can find notes, drafts, personal papers, and more from Carnap, Hempel, Reichenbach, and others.

The Fellowship will be for one month in summer 2021.  For more details and to apply, see here.

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Cosmology Beyond Spacetime

Posted on January 6, 2021 by center_admin

Theories of quantum gravity suggest that classical spacetime may not be fundamental, but only arise as higher order phenomena. What implications does such a possibility have for cosmology, which generally assumes the classical framework of general relativity? Such implications are in part physical, as one expects new physics to play a role in Planckian scales, for instance in the early universe. But they are also conceptual and methodological. How does the physics of a whole universe relate to the physics of its parts? What reasoning is involved in drawing inferences for the early universe and the physics of the very small, from observation of the current universe? In regimes in which classical spacetime breaks down, how are observables, laws, or indeed dynamics to be understood — and what of the universe ‘before’ the Big Bang?

In the seminar, leading philosophers and physicists will address these questions from the point of view of a range of approaches to quantum gravity.

The seminar is a collaboration between The Center for Philosophy of Science, and the Cosmology Beyond Spacetime project funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

WEDNESDAYS 10:15 AM – 12:00 PM EST

Talks in this series will be held in Zoom webinar format and pre-registration is required.  You may register for all talks, or just a few.

REGISTER HERE:  https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BYAmu_RxTeCCSU7JXYk_Ig

Titles, abstracts, coming soon.

Speakers

Feb 3:  “Laws For Nowhere”  Nick Huggett, University of Illinois at Chicago, Senior Visiting Fellow at The Center

Abstract: The standard concept of law is, I suggest, significantly spatiotemporal, posing the question of how there can be laws in non-spatiotemporal theories, and most pointedly how laws could hold in non-spatiotemporal regions of spacetime. I describe a couple of quantum gravity models of the Big Bang (in string theory and group field theory), in a provisional attempt to demonstrate how such questions might arise.

Feb 10:  “Laws Beyond Spacetime”  Christian Wüthrich, University of Geneva

Abstract: Quantum gravity’s suggestion that spacetime may be emergent and so only exist contingently would force a radical reconception of extant analyses of laws of nature. Humeanism presupposes a spatiotemporal mosaic of particular matters of fact on which laws supervene. I will show how the Humean supervenience basis of non-modal facts can be reconceived, avoiding a reliance on fundamental spacetime. However, it is unclear that naturalistic forms of Humeanism can maintain their commitment to there being no necessary connections among distinct entities. This talk is based on a joint project with Vincent Lam.

Feb 17:  “Quantum Gravity in Practice”  Francesca Vidotto, Western University

Abstract: I present a recent concrete calculation in Spinfoam Cosmology -the application of the covariant LQG techniques to the cosmos- as an example to discuss a number of conceptual issues that are at the core of quantum gravity and cosmology. These include: What are the observables when localization does not rely on background space and time? What are the degrees of freedom? What is the role of quantum fluctuations of spacetime? What’s the interplay between the Planck scale and the cosmological scale? How should we think about time in this picture?

Feb 24:  “Temporal Naturalism”  Lee Smolin, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

I discuss the progress of a research program called temporal naturalism, whose aim is to reframe naturalism and relationalism based on the hypotheses that time is fundamental, while space is emergent.  By the fundamentality of time we mean that all that is real are causal processes that continually make definite facts out of previously indefinite possibilities, thereby producing novel events out of predecessor events.  Good be-ables to construct such a theory from are the views of events, which describe what properties an event was endowed with by its predecessor events, such as energy and momentum. Thus there is a single universe made up of partial views of itself.

In a relational setting and with no distance, coordinates, fields, or trajectories to draw from, the dynamics must be formulated in terms of views, and in particular in terms of differences amongst views. The change between the view of an event and its immediate predecessors provides a notion of kinetic energy while potential energy is related to the variety, which is the total diversity of present causally unrelated views. This is enough to derive a version of many body quantum theory; which lives in a space that we show emerges from the solutions of the theory.

Thus the program shows promise of reconciling both the problems of quantum foundations and quantum gravity, within a single completion.

The part of the program just described has been developed under the names of energetic causal sets and the causal theory of views.  Another key aspect is the view that the laws of physics cannot be fixed, but must evolve, in a way as to explain how the choices the universe has made of the fundamental forces and particles have come about through an evolutionary, dynamical process.  If there is time I will discuss three realizations of this idea: cosmological natural selection, the principle of precedence, and the hypothesis that the vacua of quantum fields can learn to navigate a landscape of possible laws, using the same mechanisms that allow a deep neural network to learn.

This work has appeared in six books and a number of papers; key collaborators have included Julian Barbour, Fotini Markopoulou, Stuart Kauffman, Joao Magueijo, Stephon Alexander, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Jaron Lanier, Marina Cortes, Andrew Liddle and Clelia Verde.

March 3:  “Decoupling from the Initial State?”  Christopher Smeenk, Western University

According to inflationary cosmology, the universe passed through a transient phase of exponential expansion that leaves several characteristic imprints in the universe’s post-inflationary state. This paradigm has enjoyed considerable phenomenological success, as a wide range of inflationary models are compatible with observations. The extent to which this success lends credibility to inflation has been a subject of ongoing debate. Here I will focus on whether the predictions of inflation are robust to changes in high-energy physics, or to features of the pre-inflationary initial state. The prospect of describing the early universe successfully without resolving the mysteries of quantum gravity has always been one of inflation’s appealing features. I will review arguments that inflation does not decouple from high energy physics in the same sense as other effective field theories in physics. Establishing how inflation can be implemented in a theory of quantum gravity is an ongoing challenge, and doing so is needed to address several long-standing foundational questions.

March 10:  “If Time Had No Beginning”  Fay Dowker, Imperial College London

Could the universe have had no beginning? I don’t mean, in raising this question, to deny or throw doubt on Big Bang cosmology and the existence in the past of a hot, dense state of Planckian curvature and temperature. But, in that case, how is the question to be interpreted given that—if we accept the standard cosmology— the Lorentzian manifold structure of spacetime breaks down at the Big Bang? Certainly,  the continuum concept of time in our cosmological epoch “begins” at the Big Bang. Can we even ask what happened “before” that?  The causal set approach to the problem of quantum gravity provides an arena in which to address the question of origins, in which it makes sense to ask what happened before the Big Bang and in which a clear distinction can be made between models of the universe which are “past infinite” and “past finite”. I will describe work with Stav Zalel and Bruno Bento in which we construct a framework for dynamics for causal sets which can result in past infinite universes.

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Holiday 2020

Posted on December 18, 2020 by center_admin

 

The Center will be closed for Holiday Break from Dec. 21 – Jan. 4.

Programs resume on Jan 19.  See you in 2021!

 

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The Center’s Pandemic Response, Spring Term 2021

Posted on November 20, 2020 by center_admin

As the University of Pittsburgh moves to the Spring semester, we are committed to providing the same challenging, stimulating programs for which the Center has been known for sixty years, albeit adapted to our new reality.
We will be fully complying with the University’s COVID-19 guidelines and operational postures as outlined here:
https://www.coronavirus.pitt.edu

 

As a result, we will be adopting the changes below for Spring 2021, beginning January 16:

 

Annual Lecture Series

All of the Annual Lecture Series talks scheduled in the Spring will be held online.
View the schedule here.

 

Lunchtime Talks

Lunchtime Talks will be online during the entirety of the Spring 2021 term.

 

Conferences

ANCESTRY: EVIDENCE, INFERENCE, AND IDENTITY (January 22, 2021 – January 23, 2021) will be held online.  Details here.

Nick Hugget’s Senior Visiting Fellow conference will be re-imagined as a series of online seminars. More details TBA.

 

Fellows

Our Fellows are the lifeblood of the Center and their wellbeing is of the utmost importance to us.

If the University of Pittsburgh adopts the guarded posture by early February, some Fellows’ activities will be moved to in-person on March 1. A decision will be made early in February.

If the University of Pittsburgh adopts the intermediate posture throughout the semester, all the Fellows’ activities will be online.

 

Staffing

In accordance with University guidelines, Center staff will continue to work remotely. If you need to contact any of our staff, you can find our email addresses here.

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PSP5

Posted on November 12, 2020 by center_admin

JULY 12 – 16, 2021

The Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh is pleased to announce a call for applications for the 2021 PSP5: A Summer Program in Philosophy of Science for Underrepresented Groups, which will be held in the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh from July 12 to July 16, 2021 (arrival July 11).

We invite applications from undergraduate students who are highly motivated and show strong academic promise and interest in the philosophy of science, including but not limited to: women, LGBTQIA+, underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds, students with disabilities, first-generation undergraduates, and undergraduates from groups underrepresented in philosophy of science.

While one of the main aims of this program is to attract students traditionally underrepresented in philosophy of science, all qualified undergraduate applicants will be considered. Past coursework in philosophy of science is not a prerequisite for application to the Summer Program. The University of Pittsburgh, as an educational institution and as an employer, does not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, familial status, sex, age, sexual orientation, veteran status or gender identity and expression in its programs and activities.

The Summer Program will feature two daily graduate seminars about core issues and cutting-edge topics in general philosophy of science and philosophy of the special sciences (e.g., physics, biology, cognitive science and neuroscience, social sciences). The seminars and lectures will be given by internationally recognized faculty in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh as well as in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. Housing, meals, and transportation (US travel only—the University will not provide transportation costs for travel into or outside of the US) costs will be covered, and all course materials provided. Applications are due March 1, 2021, and participants will be notified by April 15, 2021.

Click here For More Info/to Apply

 

 

 

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ALS 11/6 Cancelled

Posted on November 6, 2020 by center_admin

We regret that today’s (November 6) Annual Lecture Series talk with Lise Vesterlund has been cancelled.  Apologies for the inconvenience.

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Welcome, Katie!

Posted on October 21, 2020 by center_admin

As we say ‘Goodbye’ to Carolyn this week, we are also welcoming our new Assistant Director, Kathleen “Katie” Labuda.

Katie will be a familiar face to many of you, as she comes to us from the Departments of Philosophy & HPS, where she was the Graduate Program Administrator.  We know she’ll be a great addition to the Center team!

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Farewell, Carolyn

Posted on October 19, 2020 by center_admin

Carolyn Oblak, the Center’s Assistant Director, has retired!

Carolyn joined the Center in late 2015 and has helped usher in many changes and programs that have greatly enriched the Center, including the Pittsburgh Summer Program for Underrepresented Groups, a new website and newsletter, the Grünbaum Memorial conference, and the move to the 11th floor, all while also managing the Visiting Fellows program and keeping us on budget.

Though her last official day was September 30, Carolyn will be with us for a few more weeks helping to train her replacement, Kathleen Labuda.

The Center staff will greatly miss Carolyn’s efficiency, can-do spirit, friendly greetings, handmade gifts, and endless array of healthy smoothie recipes.  Our best wishes for a healthy and fulfilling retirement!

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Sept. 22 LTT Cancelled

Posted on September 22, 2020 by center_admin

We regret that today’s (Sept.22) Lunchtime Talk with Subrena Smith has been cancelled.  Apologies for the inconvenience, and we hope you can join us for our next Lunchtime Talk!

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The Center Debates!

Posted on September 4, 2020 by center_admin

“The Center Debates” is a new initiative of the Center for Philosophy of Science. Our goal is to promote serious, but respectful and constructive exchanges about controversial topics of interest to historians and philosophers of science, scientists, and the lay public. Typically two speakers with a different perspective on a given topic are invited to debate; each gives a 20-minute presentation, followed by two 10-minute responses to the other’s speaker presentation. This exchange will then be followed by a 30 minute Q&A.

The first entry in the series will take place on October 6, when Cailin O’Connor will face off against Hugo Mercier on the topic of “Fake News.”

Learn More

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Call for Papers: Ancestry conference

Posted on August 28, 2020 by center_admin

Ancestry: Evidence, Inference, and Identity

January 22-23, 2021

The aim of this virtual conference is to bring together anthropologists, biologists, historians, and philosophers of science to address the concept of ancestry in relation to scientific inferences about the evolutionary history of humans. In the past 50 years, ancestry and the inference thereof have become molecularized, automated, and commodified. This shift has profound implications. The history and philosophy of molecular systematics raises important questions about the epistemic priority of competing sources of evidence, the scope and limitations of computational phylogenetics, the challenges of representing relationships among taxa in both the past and present, the social epistemological dimensions of big data acquisition and analysis, and the possibility of specific legitimate and responsible role(s) for political values in postgenomic inference. Participants in this workshop are invited to explore how such practices both inform and interact with both phylogenetic and popular notions of identity.

Keynote Speakers

Rob DeSalle (American Museum of Natural History and the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics)

Matt Haber (Philosophy Department, University of Utah)

Edna Suárez-Díaz (Science and Technology Studies, National University of Mexico)

 

Submission Guidelines

Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words by November 30,2020. Notifications will be sent in December 2020.

Abstract submission is electronic, and must be made through Easy Chair at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ancestry2020

We encourage early career scholars and individuals working in range of disciplines to submit their proposals for this conference. We particularly welcome submissions from members of underrepresented groups.

 

Organizing Committee

Michael R. Dietrich (History and Philosophy of Science)

Marina R. DiMarco (History and Philosophy of Science)

Jeffrey H. Schwartz (Anthropology)

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Michael Dietrich mrd98@pitt.edu

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Announcing a New Journal: Philosophy of Medicine

Posted on August 26, 2020 by center_admin

NEW OPEN ACCESS JOURNAL: PHILOSOPHY OF MEDICINE

 

 

 

The mission of Philosophy of Medicine is to serve as the flagship journal for the field by advancing research in philosophy of medicine, by engaging widely with medicine, health sciences and the public, and by providing open-access content for all.

Website: https://philmed.pitt.edu

Sponsorship for the journal is provided by the Center for the Philosophy of Science.

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The Center’s Pandemic Response, Fall Term 2020

Posted on August 14, 2020 by center_admin

As the University of Pittsburgh reopens for the Fall semester, we are committed to providing the same challenging, stimulating programs for which the Center has been known for sixty years, albeit adapted to our new reality.
We will be fully complying with the University’s COVID-19 guidelines and operational postures as outlined here:
https://www.coronavirus.pitt.edu

 

As a result, we will be adopting the changes below for Fall 2020:

Updated Sept.11, 2020
All events moved online for the term.

 

Annual Lecture Series

All of the Annual Lecture Series talks scheduled between Sept – Dec, will be held online.
View the schedule here.

 

Lunchtime Talks

Lunchtime Talks will be online during the entirety of the Fall 2020 term.

 

Conferences

The Problems of Cognitive Ontology conference has been re-imagined as a series of online seminars. More details and registration here.

The Particle and High-Energy Physics Conference has been cancelled.

 

Fellows

Our Fellows are the lifeblood of the Center and their wellbeing is of the utmost importance to us. Fall Fellows will participate virtually.

 

Staffing

In accordance with University guidelines, Center staff will continue to work remotely. If you need to contact any of our staff, you can find our email addresses here.

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