Woodward Workshop Cancelled
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the winter storm, the workshop “Causation With A Human Face” planned for Feb.4 has been postponed until further notice.
We will announce new dates as soon as we have them.
Welcome, Shoshi!
We are very excited to welcome the newest member of the Center community! Shoshi Burd-Baugh is our Programs Administrator. Shoshi brings experience in event planning, social media, and was once curator of an art gallery. Stop by and say hello to him!
Apply for PSP6!
Applications are now open for our annual Pittsburgh Summer Program in Philosophy of Science for Underrepresented Groups (aka PSP.)
This week-long intensive course introduces undergraduate students to important concepts and debates in Philosophy of Science taught by top faculty from Pitt, CMU, and elsewhere. PSP6 will take place July 11-15, 2022.
The program is designed for 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
- Undergraduates from groups underrepresented in philosophy of science
Tony Beavers Talk Moved Online
Please note, Anthony Beavers’ talk scheduled for Friday, Nov. 19 has been moved to online-only.
See the talk listing for Zoom registration.
Or, you can stream the talk live on our YouTube channel.
PHEP Postponed
The Particle and High-Energy Physics conference, scheduled for Nov. 6-7, has been postponed until spring. The organizing committee hopes that at that time, international travel will be easier for potential speakers and participants.
We apologize for any disruptions, and hope that you will join us in the spring. Check back for the new date announcement.
Visiting Fellowships 2022-23
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.
Postdoc Fellowships 2022-23
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.
Senior Visiting Fellow Conference Announced
We are pleased to announce the date and topic of this year’s Senior Visiting Fellow conference, designed by our current SVF Heather Douglas.
Institutions 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.
Goodbye Alex!
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!
Call For Papers – Particle Physics Conference
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.
Welcome 2021 Fellows
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
The First Issue of Philosophy of Medicine
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
2021- 22 Fellows Announced!
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
The Center’s Pandemic Response, Spring Term 2021
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.
ALS 11/6 Cancelled
We regret that today’s (November 6) Annual Lecture Series talk with Lise Vesterlund has been cancelled. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Welcome, Katie!
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!
Farewell, Carolyn
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!
Sept. 22 LTT Cancelled
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!
The Center Debates!
“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.”
Call for Papers: Ancestry conference
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
Announcing a New Journal: Philosophy of Medicine
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.
The Center’s Pandemic Response, Fall Term 2020
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.
Tsinghua Summer School Cancelled
The annual Pitt-Tsinghua summer school scheduled for August 2020 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
COVID-19 Update
Due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus, the Center for Philosophy of Science along with the University of Pittsburgh, will be enacting changes to limit face-to-face group settings.
To this end, we are cancelling all Center events for the remainder of Spring term. This includes:
- The “Problems of Cognitive Ontology” conference
- Annual Lecture Series talk scheduled for March 20
- Lunchtime Talks
Please continue to check back here for any updates or notices of virtual programs, and continue to engage with us on social media.
For further information, here is the University of Pittsburgh Chancellor’s official statement on COVID-19 changes.
Call for Papers: PHEP2020
We’re accepting talk proposals now for PHEP2020: Early Career Conference in Philosophy of Particle & High Energy Physics.
Visit the conference page for all the details!
New! Summer Archival Fellowship
We invite applications for a new month-long Summer Archival Fellowship supporting a visit in the Center and research at the Archives of Scientific Philosophy.
The Summer Archival Fellowship is available for June or July 2020.
The Summer Archival Fellow will be given an office at the Center and will receive a $1,500 stipend.
Please send by March 15, 2020 the following materials to Carolyn Oblak (cjo13@pitt.edu):
(1) A cover letter that indicates a Summer Archival Fellowship is sought and describes: the month of proposed residence in the Center; note previous fellowships at the Center.
(2) A description of the research to be undertaken at the Archives of Scientific Philosophy during residence (1500 words).
(3) A curriculum vitae.
We particularly welcome submissions from members of underrepresented groups in philosophy of science.
Farewell Joyce
Joyce McDonald is retiring in February 2020.Joyce has served the University of Pittsburgh, and the Center for Philosophy of Science for 25 years, having worked with four Center Directors (Jerry Massey, James Lennox, John D. Norton, and Edouard Machery), supported hundreds of Fellows, and been the organizing force behind countless Lunchtime Talks and Annual Lecture Series events. Her warm and personal style has helped to make the Center a “home away from home” for our Fellows and many guests.