We invite you to submit papers for the conference “The Value of Scientific Representation. Classic Issues and Contemporary Challenges”, that will take place at the NOVA University of Lisbon on June 21st-22nd, 2023.
Organized within the activities of the research project “Mary B. Hesse’s ‘new epistemology’. Principles and Legacy” (FCT/IFILNOVA), the conference aims to explore issues from the current debate on scientific representation that may be – directly or indirectly – connected with Hesse’s theoretical understanding of science. On a general level, we would like the speakers to engage with open questions related with the value of the scientific world-explanation from a variety of viewpoints that should not be limited to a philosophical or linguistic analysis of the issues explored, but may also involve contributions devoted to classic figures of the history and philosophy of science. Possible topics may include:
– The epistemic function and value of scientific modelling; – Varieties of figurative representations in science (metaphors, analogies, fictions, perspectives, frames, etc.); – Scientific realism vs. relativism and instrumentalism; – Analytic vs. historic philosophy of science; – Coherence vs. correspondence theories of truth; – Hermeneutic understanding of the natural sciences; – Classic engagements with scientific representation; – History, development and discussion of positivist and/or empiricist epistemology; – Contribution to the philosophy of science of leading figures of the so-called “post-empiricist” turn (Quine, Kuhn, Feyerabend, etc.);
Reference to Hesse’s work and preferred issues will be very much appreciated, although it is not required.
Deadline for Submission: March 14th, 2023 Notification of Acceptance: March 30th, 2023
Abstracts in English and not exceeding 300 words can be sent to Pietro Gori at the following address: scirep2023@gmail.com
On November 21, 2022, María De Paz will give a talk on one of the first works published by Mary Hesse, “Forces and Fields” (1961).
In that book, Hesse focuses on the question “How do bodies act on one another across space?”, elaborating a variety of answers that illustrates the function of fundamental analogies or models in physics, as well as the role of so-called unobservable entities. Hesse examines the use of analogies in primitive scientific explanation, particularly in the works of aristotle, and contrast them with latter-day theories such as those of gravitation and relativity. Her perspective sheds considerable light on the scientific thinking of antiquity, and it highlights the debt that the seventeenth-century natural philosophers owed to Greek ideas.
The session will take place at Colégio Almada Negreiros of the NOVA University of Lisbon , Room SE1, from 2:30 PM.
On November 4, 2022, our research project will host a workshop on “Scientific Modelling and the Classic Tradition”, with guests from the Inductive Metaphysics research group.
– Kristina Engelhard (Uni Trier), “Modeling natural kinds according to Kant” – Lorenzo Spagnesi (Uni Trier), “Regulative Idealization: A Kantian Approach to Idealized Models”
2PM-4PM – Session 2 FCSH Building B, Room 304
– David Hommen (Uni Duesseldorf), “A Wittgensteinian View of Models” – Giulia Terzian (IFILNOVA), “False models can be good models: the case of generative linguistics”
On September 8-9, 2022, the Center of Philosophy of Science of the University of Lisbon will host the first meeting of the newly created Iberian Network of Philosophy of Science.
This will surely be an important and exciting occasion for presenting the work of our research group and extend the network of collaboration with other important institutions in the field.
As previously announced, on September 26, 3-5 PM (London/Lisbon time), we will host a session with Michela Massimi, who will present her newly published book on Perspectival Realism.
Anyone who is based in Lisbon can join the session at Colégio Almada Negreiros / Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Room 209.
For those who are not in Lisbon and would like to attend online, free registration is required through this form. The link to the Zoom session will be sent the day before the event.
On May 6th, 2022 (10:30 Lisbon/London Time), Fabrizio Macagno (IFILNOVA) will deliver a paper on Arguments from analogy. Aristotelian’s Approach and Hesse’s Legacy.
Argument from analogy is a fundamental type of explicit reasoning, whose uses and applications are deeply investigated in argumentation theory, law, education, and artificial intelligence. Its structure is commonly analyzed as a combination of an inductive and a deductive process – leading from the observation of some common features to a generalization, from which a particular conclusion is drawn. The claim that this presentation intends to defend is that analogical arguments can be analyzed as meta-arguments, or rather as the expression of different types of argument. In this perspective, analogy is regarded as a strategy for supporting a conclusion through different types of argumentative (inferential) relations.
The session can be attended online by registering at this link.
The opening event of our project will take place on the 4th of march, 2022. Pietro Gori (PI of the project) will deliver a paper on Mary B. Hesse’s Postempiricist Epistemology.
The paper will deal with Mary Hesse’s attempt to outline a postempiricist epistemology which might criticize and eventually overcome the traditional (positivist) conception of the relationship between facts and theories.
The session can be attended online by registering at this link.
