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ALS: Frances Egan

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

A Deflationary Account of Representation in Cognitive Science Frances Egan, Rutgers University ABSTRACT: Much of cognitive neuroscience construes cognitive capacities as involving representation in some way. Computational theories of vision, for example, typically posit structures that represent edges in the world. Neurons are often said to represent elements of their receptive fields. Despite the widespread […]

Michael Strevens, Grünbaum Memorial Lecture

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Indirect Causation Michael Strevens, New York University   ABSTRACT: If scientists are to think intelligently and fruitfully about causation, then they need a vocabulary that directly represents causal relations. I will argue that they also need to represent what I call “indirect causal generalizations”, which mix causal relations with what I call relations of “entanglement”. […]

ALS: Wayne Wu

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Does Anyone Know What Attention Is? Wayne Wu, Carnegie Mellon University Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition   ABSTRACT: Despite debate and confusion in the empirical and philosophical literature, we have always known the answer: attention is selection for the guidance of behavior.  I situate this proposal in light of a venerable schema for […]

ALS: Kerry McKenzie

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Progress and its Problems: Coming to Terms with Theory Change in the Metaphysics of Science Kerry McKenzie, University of California, San Diego Abstract: Progress is often cited as definitive of science. Thinking about the sense, if any, that metaphysics progresses might therefore help us get a purchase on the demarcation between science and metaphysics and […]

CANCELLED – ALS: S. Ruphy

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

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 […]

ALS: E. Schechter

Online Lecture

Elizabeth Schechter Indiana University, Department of Philosophy and the Cognitive Science Program Self-Consciousness After Split-Brain Surgery ABSTRACT:  In this talk, I first argue that the two hemispheres of a split-brain subject are associated with distinct conscious thinkers and, indeed, distinct thinkers of self-conscious thoughts, R and L. I then argue that the dynamics of self-conscious […]

ALS: S. Ruphy

Online Lecture

Stéphanie Ruphy Ecole Normale Supérieure - Université PSL Science Policies and the Unpredictability of Scientific Inquiry This talk will be online via Zoom and pre-registration is required. Register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HfaWE2RyQieV1M7pvqg0Gw   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 […]

ALS: M. Haber

Online Lecture

Matt Haber University of Utah, Department of Philosophy The Species Problem Problem and the No Solution Solution This talk will be online via Zoom and pre-registration is required. Register here:  https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_REvgdYgITVSuQ0uSG-hPCw   ABSTRACT:  I propose that the species problem is a genuinely skeptical problem.  That is just to say that no single answer will resolve […]

ALS: L. Vesterlund

Online Lecture

CANCELLED Lise Vesterlund University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics Gender Differences in Task Allocations: Competition and Volunteering This talk will be online via Zoom and pre-registration is required. Register here:  https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kcq3bIaqTuaTtLgQE7rQ4A ABSTRACT:  Women and men are shown to hold different work assignments, with women spending less time on work that advances their careers (promotable work) […]

ALS: J. Ioannidis

Online Lecture

John Ioannidis Stanford University Reproducible and Useful Research: Changing Research Practices ABSTRACT: Multiple lines of evidence suggest that a substantial segment of published research yields results that are not credible and that among the results that are credible a large share are not useful. The lecture will assess the scope of this evidence, it will […]

ALS: E. Landry

Online Lecture

Elaine Landry University of California, Davis, Department of Philosophy As-ifism: Mathematics and Method without Metaphysics Zoom webinar.  Pre-registration is required.  Please register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_iYWEBu-gRMCVQwzUtfYIDg ABSTRACT: I aim to carve out an as-if interpretation of mathematical structuralism by disentangling methodological considerations from metaphysical ones. I begin first with Plato and draw important lessons from his account […]

ALS: M. Massimi

Online Lecture

Adolf Grünbaum 2021 Memorial Lecture Michela Massimi The University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences Natural Kinds on Neurath’s Boat This talk will be held as a Zoom webinar.  Pre-registration ins required.  Please register here: https://pitt.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_28l1C2NRRkGqi8Hbxhwsjw ABSTRACT:  In this 2021 Adolf Grünbaum Memorial Lecture, I present a perspectival realist view on natural […]

ALS: L. Vesterlund

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Lise Vesterlund, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Economics, University of Pittsburgh Gender Differences in Task Allocations: Cause and Effect Women and men are shown to hold different work assignments, with women spending less time on work that advances their careers (promotable work) and more time on work that is unlikely to affect career advancement (non-promotable […]

ALS: S. Green

Online Lecture

Sara Green, University of Copenhagen Philosophy of Science as Visioneering Assessment: The Case of Precision Medicine ABSTRACT: Biomedical science is not only driven by theoretical achievements and technological developments, but also by visions for the future of medicine and society in general. By “visioneering”, I refer to the communication of visions by influential proponents within […]

ALS: J. Weatherall

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Adolf Grünbaum 2022 Memorial Lecture James Owen Weatherall, Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, UC Irvine The Philosophy Behind Dark Matter Abstract:  According to the Standard Model of Cosmology, more than 80% of the total matter in the universe is "dark": it does not emit or reflect light, and so its presence and properties […]

ALS: C. Fine

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Cordelia Fine, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne Fairly Criticised or Dangerously Politicised? Conflicts in Sex/Gender Science Conflicts in the Neuroscience of Sex Differences in the Human Brain Investigations of sex differences in the human brain take place on politically sensitive terrain. While some scholars express concern that gendered biases and stereotypes […]

ALS: E. Tal

Online Lecture

Eran Tal, Department of Philosophy, McGill University Measurement Outcomes as Best Predictors Abstract: I argue for a view of measurement that treats measurement results (‘outcomes’) as predictors of patterns in data. The data in question may be records of instrument indications, such as thermometer readings, or future data, such as records of health outcomes. Not […]

ALS: C. Lee

Online Lecture

Carole Lee, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington Institutional Racism in Science: Black-White Disparities in NIH Grant Review Abstract:  In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and disproportionately deadly impact of COVID-19 on communities of color, researchers have called for an end to institutional racism in scientific education, publishing, and funding.  In this […]

ALS: C. Buckner

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Cameron Buckner, Department of Philosophy, University of Houston The new DoGMA of Empiricism: Deep Learning and Domain-General Faculties Abstract:  Deep learning is a research area in computer science that has over the last ten years produced a series of transformative breakthroughs in artificial intelligence—creating systems that can recognize complex objects in natural photographs as well […]

ALS: Doreen Fraser

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: “The field framework in physics (and beyond)” Abstract: Over the past century, analogies between particle physics and condensed matter physics have successfully guided theoretical developments in both domains. Prominent examples include the construction of the Higgs model in particle physics and the development of renormalization group methods. Unlike prior historical uses of analogies in […]

ALS: Quayshawn Spencer

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: A Metaphysical Mapping Problem for Race Theorists and Human Population Geneticists Abstract. In this talk, I identify and clarify a mapping phenomenon that’s almost twenty years old. The phenomenon is that the populations at a fivefold subdivision of humans into biological populations—the so-called human continental populations—correspond one-to-one with the five official races of the […]

ALS: J. Bickle

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: Heterodox scientists: A sliver of hope for our increasingly conformist times? Abstract: Nowadays we all face tremendous pressures to conform to domineering narratives. This holds for science as much as for politics. Recent exposés of the silencing of scientific ideas—alternative public health policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and alternatives to the amyloid plaque explanation […]

ALS: Derek Angus

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: The RCT is dead.  Long live the RCT. Abstract: First introduced in the 1940s, the randomized clinical trial, or RCT, revolutionized medicine. Today, all new therapies must show efficacy in an RCT to gain regulatory approval, fueling a clinical trials industry of over $50 billion per year. Although deemed essential, RCTs have considerable statistical, […]

ALS: Holly Andersen

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Friday 3/24 3:30PM - 5:30PM CL 1008 Title: Starting Points in Ohio: A pragmatist account of the asymmetry of explanation Abstract: Recent discussions around explanation have concerned the issue of asymmetry, an issue dating back at least to the well-known example of the shadow of a flagpole. What is the source of the directionality in […]

ALS – Alex John London

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: Epistemic Diversity, Ethics, and the Optimal Timing of Clinical Trials Abstract: Ethically acceptable research with human participants should satisfy at least two ethical criteria: it should produce sufficient social value to justify its conduct and it should respect the basic rights and interests of study participants.  The concept of clinical equipoise has risen to […]

ALS – Cailin O’Connor

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title:  Why Natural Social Contracts are Not Fair Abstract: Many theorists have employed game theory to model the emergence of stable social norms, or natural “social contracts”.  One branch of this literature uses bargaining games to show why many societies have norms and rules for fairness.  In cultural evolutionary models, fair bargaining emerges endogenously because […]

ALS – Alan C. Love

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title:  The Biological Trait Concept and Character Identity Mechanisms Abstract: Biologists frequently talk about characters, traits, features, phenotypes, and parts to pick out those aspects of cells, organisms, and populations they want to investigate. However, they accomplish this in diverse and sometimes seemingly contradictory ways, and the theoretical question of what constitutes a biological trait […]

ALS – Maya J. Goldenberg

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: Myth-Busting or Meaning-Making? Public Science Communications and the Infodemic Abstract: A growth area of public-facing science communications during the COVID years has been the counter-offence against misinformation, that is, fighting the “infodemic.” Since the start of the pandemic, legions of well-intended healthcare practitioners, scientists, and concerned citizens have taken to social media platforms to […]

ALS – Nicole Yunger Halpern

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

Title: Field notes on the second law of thermodynamics from a quantum physicist Abstract: Thermodynamics reigns as queen of the physical theories, governing everything from biophysics to cosmology. The second law of thermodynamics heads her court, stipulating that time appears to flow in only one direction and limiting engines’ efficiencies. However, idealizations curtail the original […]

ALS – Thomas Icard

1008 Cathedral of Learning 4200 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

This talk will also be our 2023-24 Adolf Grünbaum Memorial Lecture. Title: Causal Abstraction and Computational Explanation Abstract: A familiar idea in cognitive science is that it can be useful to study the mind at different levels of analysis. This idea of levels is rarely made precise, however. Adapting tools from recent theoretical work on […]