Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
Lunchtime Talks (in-person)
Conferences (in-person)
Online-Only Events
Title: Replacing STEM with Natural Philosophy: Reconfiguring the Science/Philosophy Relationship Abstract: The idea of this project is to seek to replace the current notions of STEM with the classical ideal of natural philosophy and to see if a contemporary form of natural philosophy could be evolved in our present-day teaching and research contexts. The broad […]
Title: Spacetime, functionalism, and inertial frames Abstract: I advocate a form of spacetime functionalism that identifies spacetime with whatever picks out a structure of inertial frames. In this talk, I’ll defend the spacetime-inertia connection against some challenges. Be sure to check out Eleanor's upcoming Conference: Spacetime Functionalism! This talk will also be available […]
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 […]
Title: A Novel Perspective on Pluralism in Climate Modeling Abstract: Modeling the mass-extinction event at the Permian Triassic Boundary (PTB), which is believed to have followed a warming event triggered by significant increase in CO2 levels, has become an important area of research in climate science. However, to model conditions at the PTB, scientists must choose between […]
Title: Renormalization group explanations in particle physics Abstract: Despite the highly analogous forms that renormalization group methods take in particle physics and condensed matter physics, there are key modal differences between these domains. This leads to different types of explanatory aims in particle physics. Rather than explaining universality, the renormalization group is used to explain […]
Spacetime Functionalism Conference Cathedral of Learning 1008, April 1st-2nd Spacetime Functionalism holds that spacetime is spacetime by virtue of the role it plays with respect to other physics. It promises to help with certain interpretational puzzles, including some of those arising in quantum gravity. But the exact kind of functionalism involved, the extent to which […]
Title: Validity drifts in psychiatric research Abstract: I develop the notion of validity drift and apply it to psychiatric research. A validity drift occurs when, in the course of developing new measurement procedures, researchers end up studying something different from what they originally aimed to study. I explain why and how validity drifts occur with […]
Title: Crafting Scientific Narratives Abstract: How do particular sets of experimental data become evidence for particular scientific claims? In this talk I call attention to the narrative constraints that shape data interpretation within individual publications and the larger research trajectories they comprise. I present a case study involving a particular C. elegans laboratory in which […]
Title: Where the Philosophy of Cognitive Science Went Wrong Abstract: One can hardly overestimate the influence of Jerry Fodor on the philosophy of cognitive science. Fodor has left us two main problems. Firstly, the problem of vindicating folk psychology. Secondly, the problem of explaining our cognitive capacities. These two problems arise for Fodor’s preferred view, […]
Title: Expectation and exception: expertise as an epistemic constraint Abstract: I document historical cases of anomalies that resulted in theory changes, with an eye to the course of their reception by mainstream experts. With some regularity, a theory-changing anomaly first comes to the attention of amateurs or scientists with expertise in a domain other than […]
Dan Burnston (Center for Philosophy of Science, Philosophy Department at Tulane University) and Wayne Wu (Philosophy and the Neuroscience Institue CMU) to participate. Intention and Agency in Mind and Brain! The debate will also be available live-streamed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.
The 2023 meeting of SPP will be held at the University of Pittsburgh on June 20-23. Registration for the conference is here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/society-for-philosophy-and-psychology-annual-meeting-2023-registration-616545753947 Registration includes an option to add a pre-conference, a banquet, sign up to be a diversity mentor/mentee. The conference will begin with a pre-conference on Memory (organized by Sarah Robins & Felipe De Brigard) on […]
This talk has unfortunately been cancelled. Title: Philosophy of Science comes to California Abstract: The talk describes how 20th Century philosophy of science migrated from Europe to the Los Angeles area during the 1945-1955 decade, and how--and to what extent--it took root there. This talk will also be available live streamed on YouTube […]
Title: The Model View Meets Quantum Ontology Abstract: What is here called the “model view” of science is a distinct perspective advanced by Ronald Giere and Paul Teller, which places the construction and use of models at the center of scientific theorizing. This paper offers friendly critical discussion--and significant revision--of the Giere-Teller view, emphasizing the […]
Title: The World Crisis – And What To Do About It Abstract: Humanity faces two fundamental problems of learning: learning about the universe, and learning how to become civilized. We have solved the first problem, but not the second, and that puts us in a situation of great danger. Almost all our global problems have […]
Title: How, in a field rife with controversy, some neuroscientific models become generally accepted as good models? Abstract: There is much disagreement in Neuroscience. Many highly regarded and high-impact findings are contested by others as insufficiently supported. Among the many controversies, there are a few specific models that stand out as generally accepted to be […]
Title: Mathematics and Society Reunited: The Social Aspects of Brouwer’s Intuitionism Abstract: Brouwer’s philosophy of mathematics is usually regarded as an intra-subjective, even solipsistic approach, which also underlies his mathematical intuitionism, as he strived to create mathematics that develops out of something inner and a?linguistic. Thus, points of connection between Brouwer’s views and the social […]
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 […]
Title: Voicing disagreement in science: Missing women Abstract: This paper examines the authorship of post-publication criticisms in the scientific literature, with a focus on gender differences. Bibliometrics from journals in the natural and social sciences show that comments that criticize or correct a published study are 20-40% less likely than regular papers to have a […]
Godel Meets Laplace There’s an understanding of what determinism entails illustrated by the familiar image that Laplace gave us of a demon that can predict everything that will happen in the universe from knowledge of initial conditions. I’ll argue that there are both specific and general reasons that there could never be a Laplacian demon […]
Title: Understanding Integration: Lessons from Integrative Modeling in Structural Biology Abstract: Although the value of integrative research has been widely acknowledged, philosophers have yet to develop a comprehensive understanding of what, precisely, integration consists in and what makes it effective. In this paper, we provide a detailed descriptive and normative account of integration in structural […]
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 […]
Title: Induction as action: resolving the problem of Whewell’s idealism Abstract: William Whewell is a towering and yet ambiguous figure in Victorian science. Together with Herschel and Mill, he sought to develop a logic of induction that could vindicate the cognitive autonomy of science. Yet his theory of induction was severely criticized by Mill for […]
Title: Coarse-grained Theories of Cooperation and Myxobacteria Abstract: A particular strain of myxobacteria known as Myxococcus xanthus has received attention for its cooperative predation. I examine whether the same explanations proposed to account for cooperation in other areas of the M. xanthus life-cycle – in quorum-sensing, social motility and fruiting body formation – can also account for their […]
Title: From mathematical notations to the applications of mathematics: Studying epistemic accessibility Abstract: This talk is about mathematical notations, and more broadly about mathematical language. My goal is to present, and to argue for the fruitfulness of, a broadly speaking pragmatic approach to this topic—an approach that focuses on how notations shape what is epistemically […]
Organizing Committee Members: Michael R. Dietrich, (University of Pittsburgh, History and Philosophy of Science) John Norton (University of Pittsburgh, History and Philosophy of Science) Carol Cleland (University of Colorado Boulder) Please be aware we have limited room, so we will only be able to accept those that registered by 10/23. If you have any questions, […]
Title: Transfer of quantum information in teleportation Abstract: The controversial issue of information transfer in quantum teleportation procedure is analyzed in the framework of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. In contrast to the claims of Deutsch & Hayden 2000, it is argued that quantum information, considered as a measurable property for an observer in […]
Title: How do Imperatives Motivate? Abstract: (Joint work with Shaun Nichols.) How do we form beliefs on the basis of assertions of declarative sentences? According to the Spinozan theory of belief, belief formation is an automatic and involuntary process (Gilbert 1991, Mandelbaum 2014): the uptake of a declarative utterance is a belief. In this talk […]
Title: Pursuit-Worthy Research in Health: Three Examples and a Proposal Abstract: In the ideal, we might want researchers and institutional reviewers from the populations affected by given research projects. However, that might not always be reasonable—for example, it would be an unreasonable expectation of those with chronic fatigue syndrome to be heavily involved in guiding […]
Title: Characterizing a Collaboration by Its Communication Structure Abstract: I present first results of my analysis of a collection of about 24,000 email messages from internal mailing lists of a major particle physics collaboration during the years 2010–2013. I represent the communication on these mailing lists as a network in which the members of the […]