
Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
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LTT: B. McLoone
October 29, 2021 @ 12:10 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
Brian McLoone, Higher School Economics, Center Visiting Fellow
How Should We Think about Models with Impossible Assumptions?
ABSTRACT: This talk will be about complications that emerge when one renders a scientific model with an impossible assumption as a counterfactual. The talk will touch on a variety of topics, such as the nature of (im)possibility, the vacuity thesis (whose correctness I argue against), impossible worlds (whose utility I argue for), and it will draw on some completed but unpublished experimental work on how scientists reason from assumptions that they deem to be impossible.
Please Note: 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.
If you’d prefer to watch online, please register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hnkLi82VRsOclftS_CT6-Q
Details
- Date:
- October 29, 2021
- Time:
-
12:10 pm - 1:30 pm EDT
- Event Categories:
- Lunchtime Talks, Lunchtime Talks 2021-22
- Event Tags:
- ltt
Venue
- 1117 Cathedral of Learning
-
4200 Fifth Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15260 United States