Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
Lunchtime Talks (in-person)
Conferences (in-person)
Online-Only Events
Caspar Jacobs, Dept. of HPS, University of Pittsburgh Are Mass Scalings Symmetries of Newtonian Mechanics? ABSTRACT: There has been some recent debate over whether mass scalings - uniform scalings of […]
Featured Former Fellow Lunchtime Talk: Naftali Weinberger, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy Signal Manipulation and the Causal Analysis of Racial Discrimination ABSTRACT: Discrimination is, in part, a causal concept. To […]
Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh A Fallen Branch from the Tree of Knowledge: The Failure of Futurology. ABSTRACT: The talk will examine the futurology bubble […]
Robert Batterman, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh Mesoscale Models and Many-Body Physics ABSTRACT: What is the best way to study the bulk behavior of many-body systems? A natural, common […]
Robert Pennock, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, Michigan State University Curiosity Systematized: Virtue Philosophy of Science and the Philosophy of Mind ABSTRACT: I have argued for a virtue philosophy of […]
Eugen Fischer, University of East Anglia, Center Visiting Fellow Experimental Argument Analysis: How Stereotypes Shape Arguments ABSTRACT: The analysis of philosophical arguments is commonly regarded as model of an armchair […]
John D. Norton, Distinguished University Professor of HPS, University of Pittsburgh How Analogy Helped Create the New Science of Thermodynamics ABSTRACT: In 1824, Sadi Carnot’s “On the Motive Power of […]
Gayle Rogers, University of Pittsburgh The Science of Speculation: A Revolution in Experimentation and Moneymaking Abstract: This talk will trace the development of speculation as a twin phenomenon in the […]
Laura Menatti, University of the Basque Country, Center Visiting Fellow Health and environment: A Relational Account Abstract In this talk I propose a situated and relational framework to address the relationship between health […]
Ruth Kastner, University of Maryland, Center Visiting Fellow Curing Several Diseases of Physics with One Simple Remedy Abstract: Modern physics presents us with a number of stubborn problems and challenges, […]
Heather Douglas, Michigan State University, Center Senior Visiting Fellow Rethinking Public Funding for Science Abstract: Public funding for science increased dramatically after WWII. The initial justifications for public funding for […]
Leonardo Bich, University of the Basque Country, Center Visiting Fellow An Operational Approach to Defining Life Abstract: Despite numerous and increasing attempts to define what life is, there is no […]
Featured Former Fellow Lunchtime Talk: Maria Serban, University of East Anglia The trouble with construct validity Abstract: An important part in the methodological discourse of psychology focuses on establishing […]
Serife Tekin, University of Texas, San Antonio Unmuting Patients in Psychiatric Epistemologies: Insights from the Opioid Crisis One of the central aims of psychiatry is to identify the properties of […]
Ravit Dotan, University of California Berkeley AI Ethics and Investors Abstract: Should investors integrate AI ethics into investment strategies? If so, how? The goal of my talk is to lead […]
Pamela Reinagel The limited role of null hypothesis testing in Biology: A practicing biologist's perspective on the Reproducibility Crisis Abstract: In recent years there has been much discussion of rigor, reliability […]
Join us for a lunch time talk by Aydin Mohseni, University of California, Irvine. Title: Modeling Interventions in the Replication Crisis Scientific studies vary in their methodological soundness. Interventions in […]
This Talk has been postponed, date TBA. Title: "The Concept of Control" Abstract: The talk will argue that control is a complex and inherently unclear inception ill suited to […]
Title: Gender and values at the intersection of molecular biology and psychiatry Abstract: This talk points to socio-political values that call for more integration between molecular and social-environmental approaches to […]
Title: Pattern Finding and Pattern Making Abstract: Human beings are proficient pattern finders (e.g., scientific laws), and pattern makers (e.g., art, architecture, political systems). According to philosophical tradition, going back […]
Title: The Bearable Thinness of Being: A Pragmatist Metaphysics of Affordances Abstract: Taking a pragmatist stance toward the practices and products of science shapes our answers to central philosophical questions. […]
Title: Essentially Dynamic Concepts Abstract: Important biological concepts often display unruly behavior: there is consensus that they designate something important, but not how that 'something' should be defined, identified, or theorized—and […]
Rules Made to be Broken: Calibrating Climate Proxies Abstract: Philosophical analysis of measurement in scientific practice often focuses on the development and use of measurement standards. However, when it comes […]
Title: Stating structural realism: mathematics-first approaches to physics and metaphysics Abstract: I respond to the frequent objection that structural realism fails to sharply state an alternative to the standard predicate-logic, […]
Title: Philosophy of the Cosmological Constant Abstract: The (re)introduction of lambda into cosmology has spurred debates that touch on central questions in philosophy of science, as well as the foundations […]
Title: Measurement in a network approach to psychopathology Abstract: In psychology, the standard model for measurement is the latent variable model. In a latent variable model of depression, the correlations […]
Title: Fringe theories and epistemic tolerance Abstract: In this talk, I push the upward bound of our epistemic tolerance in science to its reasonable limit. In particular, I support the […]
Title: Functionalism in physics and inter-theoretic relations Abstract: Philosophers of physics appeal to functionalism in a variety of contexts. This talk will explore what kind of functionalism they should […]
Approximating Bayes? On The Role of Approximations in Bayesian Cognitive Science The Bayesian framework is prominent in contemporary cognitive science. Its key tenet is that many aspects of cognition can […]
Title: A Unified Theory of Probability Abstract: I defend a partial entailment/degree-of-support interpretation of probability as a unified theory of both physical and epistemic probability. On this interpretation, probabilities are […]