Annual Lecture Series (in-person)
Lunchtime Talks (in-person)
Conferences (in-person)
Online-Only Events
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 […]