Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
Lunchtime Talks (in-person)
Conferences (in-person)
Online-Only Events
Evolution, Reasoning and Causal Nihilism Alex Broadbent University of Johannesburg Abstract: Causal reasoning is widely thought to be a cognitive trait that is a distinguishing feature of humanity, accountable for our success at spreading through the world and shaping it. In this paper I argue that there is neither empirical nor conceptual evidence to support […]
Did Humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans interbreed? Facts versus Received Wisdom in Molecular Systematics Jeffrey H. Schwartz Emeritus Professor of Anthropology University of Pittsburgh Abstract: Belief in the infallibility of molecular analyses – especially of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA – in determining “who’s related to” and even “who’s been sleeping with whom?” pervades human evolutionary studies, […]
Cognitive Novelties, Informational Form, and Structural-Causal Explanations Andrew Buskell, Center Visiting Fellow Abstract: Recent work has established a framework for explaining the origin of cognitive novelties—qualitatively distinct cognitive traits—in human beings. This niche construction approach argues that humans engineer epistemic environments in ways that facilitate the ontogenetic and phylogenetic development of such novelties. I here […]
Explosive Proofs of Mathematical Truths Simon DeDeo, CMU & the Santa Fe Institute Abstract: Justifications for believing a mathematical proof are traditionally based in the validity of its underlying deductive steps. However, in a skeptical argument going back to Hume, this should make even weak belief in a theorem unjustified because errors compound exponentially. To […]
THIS TALK HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19 CONCERNS Science Policies and the Unpredictability of Scientific Inquiry Stephanie Ruphy, University Jean Moulin Abstract: What is the appropriate mode of setting the research agenda? The autonomy of science as regards the choice of its priorities is often defended on the ground that limiting scientists’ freedom to follow […]
Healing or Hacking the Earth?: Lessons from the Metaphors of Climate Intervention Gillian Barker, University of Western Ontario Abstract: Thinking about interventions in the climate system designed to have effects at the global scale takes us into new conceptual territory. Scientists and others have drawn on a wide array of metaphors to help navigate its […]
A Less Myopic View of the Virtues of Blinding and of Tests for Blinding in Clinical Trials John Worrall, London School of Economics Abstract: Performing a clinical trial double-blind controls for various biases that might affect the outcome if the trial were unblinded. It would seem, then, that a trial that begins and continues to be […]