Stathis Psillos: Revisiting the ‘Bankruptcy of Science’ Debate

ABSTRACT The ‘bankruptcy of science’ controversy took place in France towards the end of the nineteenth century. It was a heated debate among scientists, philosophers, literary critics, novelists and various public figures that was widely advertised in the press and caught the attention of the wider public on both sides of the Atlantic. It initially [...]

Metaphysics Within and Without Physics: Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference

Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, Canada

18th ANNUAL PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS CONFERENCE The Rotman Institute of Philosophy will devote the 2014 International Conference in the Philosophy of Physics on the relation between science and metaphysics. More specifically, the conference will bring together scientists and philosophers to address an important question about science and its cognitive aspirations: what is the relation between [...]

Stathis Psillos: Engaging Philosophy: Einstein on the Method of Science

Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT Albert Einstein said that scientists are poor philosophers. Yet, he added that especially in periods of scientific revolutions, scientists should engage in philosophy and should not “surrender to philosophers the critical contemplation of the theoretical foundations” of science. In this talk I will aim to critically examine Einstein’s views on the method of science [...]

Jenann Ismael: The link between time, totality, and determinism (or why the problem of determinism is really the problem of fatalism)

Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT The problem of fatalism was around long before relativity, but gained affirmation in many peoples minds from Relativity. Relativistic theories confront us with a vision of the universe from a temporally transcendent standpoint, i.e., one that treats time as an internal parameter in the universe composed of events. The problem of determinism also had [...]

Stathis Psillos: From natures to laws of nature

Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT The key claim of this talk will be that the conception of nature as being governed by natural laws is thoroughly modern. It arose mostly in the natural philosophy of Rene Descartes and was meant to replace natural powers as principles of change and of connection among distinct existences. This new conception of laws [...]

Writing for a general audience: a workshop with science writer Kayt Sukel

Room 1110 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, Ontario, Canada

Current Western University graduate students are invited to attend a writing workshop with Kayt Sukel, author of Risk and This is Your Brain on Sex, where she will offer tips, techniques, and best practices for clear communication with a general audience. Learn how to talk to reporters – and avoid underselling (or overselling) your research. Discover new [...]

Winter & Spring 2019 Rotman Dialogues

Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, Canada

EVENT DESCRIPTION Rotman Dialogues are events based on a specific book or reading, that are facilitated by Institute graduate students. Conducted much as an author-meets-critics event, these informal discussions begin with a brief introduction by the author, followed by questions from the one or two graduate students chairing the session. Finally, the dialogue is [...]

Robert Rupert – There Is No Personal Level: On the Virtues of a Psychology Flattened from Above

Room 1170 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT In their attempt to understand the structure of cognitive science, philosophers of mind often give pride of place to what they take to be an ontologically distinctive level of reality, the so-called personal level. The typical product of such an effort consists of the following claims: (a) humans have introspective, commonsense-based, or a priori [...]

Şerife Tekin: The Indispensability of Patient Testimonies for Objectivity in Psychiatry

Room 1170 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, Ontario, Canada

ABSTRACT A primary goal of psychiatric epistemology is to identify the properties of mental disorders that are relevant for developing effective interventions. Sources of information that individuate these properties include scientific research on mental disorders (e.g., clinical drug trials), data emerging from clinical settings (e.g., case studies), and first-person reports of those suffering from mental [...]

Rotman Dialogue with Louise Barrett: Enactivism, pragmatism…behaviorism?

Room 7107 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, Canada

Rotman Dialogues are events based on a specific book or reading, that are facilitated by Institute graduate students. Conducted much as an author-meets-critics event, these informal discussions begin with a brief introduction by the author, followed by questions from the one or two graduate students chairing the session. Finally, the dialogue is opened up to [...]

Allan Franklin – Measuring Nothing Repeatedly: Null Experiments in Physics

Room 7107 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, Canada

The philosophy of physics reading group will host Allan Franklin for a guest talk during an off-week of their regularly scheduled meeting time. He'll be speaking about a new book he co-authored called Measuring Nothing Repeatedly: Null Experiments in Physics. Individuals interested in attending the talk need not participate in the reading group, but are [...]

Evidence & Belief in the Age of Mass Information

Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, Canada

Perhaps at no other time in history has information been more widely & easily accessible. But how reliable is it? What do we do when confronted with fundamental disagreement about matters of social importance, including climate change and vaccination? Whom should we trust? Experts might help us. But who counts as an expert? Our [...]

Work in Progress Seminar with Jennifer Flynn: Is Bioethics Action-Centered?

Room 7107 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, Canada

Join us for a work in progress seminar with Rotman visiting fellow Jennifer Flynn based on her paper "Is Bioethics Action-Centered?" Please register below if you plan to attend. ABSTRACT Iris Murdoch criticized the moral philosophizing of her day as overly focused upon action and choice. I shall explore this criticism and the extent to [...]

Rotman Dialogue with Sarah Robins: Memory and Optogenetic Intervention

Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, Canada

Rotman Dialogues are events based on a specific book or reading, that are facilitated by Institute graduate students. Conducted much as an author-meets-critics event, these informal discussions begin with a brief introduction by the author, followed by questions from the one or two graduate students chairing the session. Finally, the dialogue is opened up to [...]

Corey Maley: Analog Computation and Representation

Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, Canada

Neuroscientists and psychologists regularly appeal to computation to explain (and not just model) what the brain and mind is doing. But it is rather clear that, whatever they mean by computation, it is not digital computation. Could it be analog computation? Based on historical examples, I argue that there is more to analog computation than [...]

Arthur Sullivan — Wittgenstein, Carnap & Copernicus: adapting the a priori

Join us for a pre-read & virtual discussion with Rotman visiting fellow Arthur Sullivan. Please register below if you plan to attend. The reading for this event will be distributed to registered attendees a week before the event date. A link to the Zoom event will be shared the day before the event. ABSTRACT My point [...]