It is not usually within the aegis of a philosophy blog to comment on controversies within popular media; but in certain particularly illustrative cases, exceptions can be made. Here we are once again concerned with public policy, expertise, and argument: Sandra Fluke’s. It might seem late to comment on an story that is already ‘old’ [...]
Steve Sherwood, of the Climate Change Research Center at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, provides a thoughtful, if schematic, discussion of historical scientific controversy, linking past polemics to present strife on climate change. Both Copernican heliocentrism and Einstein's theory of relativity met with opposition from critics that was as much moral-political [...]
Historically, most philosophers and scientists have thought about the distinction between life and non-life as an abrupt one. For vitalists like Driesch life was an irreducible phenomenon, which depended on a new type of force, one of a non-physical nature (an entelechy or a “vis essentialis”). For emergentists like Broad, life depended on the way [...]
Dr. Nancy Cartwright will be the third annual Lecturer in Philosophy & Science, giving two talks: one on Thursday, March 8th beginning at 5pm EST ("Evidence, Argument and Mixed Methods"), and another on Friday, March 9th at 3:30 pm EST ( "Wiser Use of Social Science, Wiser Wishes, Wiser Policies"). Both talks will be streNintendo [...]
We are very pleased to announce that Dr. Stathis Psillos (University of Athens) has been nominated by Western as the Rotman Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in philosophy of science. His application will now go through the CRC peer review process. Dr. Psillos has made major contributions to philosophy of science, epistemology and metaphysics; served [...]
The CBC reports on Nature's extraordinary editorial on the Harper government's control over scientific dissemination, policy which is starting to make headlines internationally as well. The full text of the editorial in Nature can be found here. The criticism is severe. As the articles notes, Researchers who once would have felt comfortable responding freely and [...]
An interview with Rotman Institute Doctoral Entrance Scholarship recipient Andrew Peterson Andrew Peterson is one of two recipients of the 2011/12 Rotman Institute of Philosophy Doctoral Entrance Scholarship. Valued at $10,000, these scholarship assist some of the strongest doctoral candidates entering their study at Western with support for their innovative research in philosophy and science. [...]
I’ve been thinking more about the intersection of science and politics, somewhat unsure how to broach such a broad topic. The question I’m pondering is: why conflict? Why not smooth integration of scientific consensus into the decision-making process? Large, unwieldy question. Now the advice typically given in such a situation is to choose a specific [...]
Jesse Prinz (CUNY) asks "Why Are Men So Violent?" in Psychology Today, suggesting the answer is to be found in historical, and not biological, factors. (As a follow-up, I recommend Corey Robin's piece on arch-libertarian Ludwig von Mises' views of gender.) The journal Nature has a fascinating series of articles on the ethical and scientific [...]
Science, Values, and Democracy In the next few posts I would like to examine the role of science in determining public policy. Though I will be using current events as examples, the purpose is not to evaluate policies but to highlight the issues at play when thinking about the use of scientific evidence in democratic [...]