Foundations of Quantum Field Theory: 2019 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference
Room 3000 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaThis workshop on the philosophy of quantum field theory (QFT) will bring together philosophers and physicists to address a set of foundational questions significant to both fields. Almost all of modern fundamental physics is written in the mathematical language of QFT. (The exception to this proves the rule: Einstein's theory of gravity is not [...]
Carlos Montemayor – The Difference Between Consciousness and Attention: Scientific Challenges
Room 1130 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, CanadaABSTRACT We know our minds directly, by having privileged access to them. We also know about them more indirectly, by studying the biological and structural conditions that allow creatures like us to have minds. This gap between the subjective and the objective has been the focus of much debate in consciousness studies. I here explore [...]
Rotman Dialogue with Louise Barrett: Enactivism, pragmatism…behaviorism?
Room 7107 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, CanadaRotman 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, CanadaThe 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 [...]
The promises and perils of A(rtificial) I(ntelligence)
Room 1130 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, CanadaThe rise of artificial intelligence inspires both fear and optimism. The creation and use of machines and software capable of learning and developing the ability to think and behave autonomously promises significant social benefits, but also great social upheaval. AI will affect how we travel, work, and receive health care. It will impact the quality [...]
Evidence & Belief in the Age of Mass Information
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaPerhaps 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 [...]
Philosophical Issues in Research Ethics Workshop
The Philosophical Issues in Research Ethics Workshop will bring together leading scholars in the field. Building on the success of the two-day workshop held at Carnegie Mellon University in November 2018, this workshop seeks to: (1) Create a high-level forum for exchange of ideas among philosophers working on problems in research ethics; (2) Foster [...]
Work in Progress Seminar with Cailin O’Connor
Room 7107 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, CanadaJoin Cailin O'Connor for a work in progress seminar focused on her paper, Measuring Conventionality. ABSTRACT Conventions are usually treated as univocal, but I argue here that they are better thought of as coming in degrees of arbitrariness. In doing so, I use information theory to measure the degree to which a convention could have been [...]
Panel Discussion: Health, Equity, and Well-Being
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaAlthough every citizen of Canada has access to publicly funded health insurance, not all Canadians enjoy the same level and quality of health.
Dan Hausman: Fairness
Room 1170 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT There are few theories of fairness in the philosophical literature, and those theories are controversial. They give conflicting answers to important policy questions, such as whether to rely on cost-effectiveness information to allocate health-related resources. For example, suppose that individuals in group A have a health condition that is slightly less cost-effective to treat [...]
Work in Progress Seminar with Jennifer Flynn: Is Bioethics Action-Centered?
Room 7107 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, CanadaJoin 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, CanadaRotman 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, CanadaNeuroscientists 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 [...]
CANCELLED: Robert Rupert: Self-knowledge as a Subpersonal Phenomenon
Room 4190 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Room 4190, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT CANCELLED DUE TO THE EVOLVING COVID-19 SITUATION. PLEASE VISIT COVID-19 INFORMATION FOR THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR MORE INFORMATION. In this talk, I begin by briefly describing and motivating a picture of human psychology as “flattened from above,” one in which the states and processes normally thought to appear at a distinctive personal level instead appear [...]
CANCELLED: Samir Okasha — Evolution, Altruism and Selfishness
Wolf Performance Hall - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT CANCELLED DUE TO THE EVOLVING COVID-19 SITUATION. PLEASE VISIT COVID-19 INFORMATION FOR THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR MORE INFORMATION. Are animals altruistic? From eusocial animals like ants & bees, to well-documented cases of humpback whales rescuing seals from orcas, there are numerous examples of what looks like altruism in nature. Among many bird and mammal [...]
CANCELLED: Samir Okasha — The Metaphor of Agency in Biology
Room 1130 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, London, ON, CanadaEVENT CANCELLED DUE TO THE EVOLVING COVID-19 SITUATION. PLEASE VISIT COVID-19 INFORMATION FOR THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY FOR MORE INFORMATION. It is striking that evolutionary biology often uses the language of intentional psychology to describe the behaviour of evolved organisms, their genes, and the process of natural selection that led to their evolution. Thus a cuckoo [...]
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 [...]
CANCELLED – Boundaries and Reality: 2020 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference
Room 3000 - Western Interdisciplinary Research Building Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaIn light of the evolving COVID-19 situation, this year's conference has unfortunately been cancelled. Boundaries between spacetime regions, boundaries between interacting physical systems, and relations across boundaries, play an important role in contemporary physics. Boundary degrees of freedom, in particular, have recently raised much interest in the literature on general relativity, gauge field theories and [...]
CANCELLED – 2020 Philosophy of Logic Math and Physics Graduate Student Conference
Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, CanadaThe 20th annual Philosophy of Logic, Mathematics, and Physics (LMP) Graduate Conference will take place on Saturday-Sunday, June 25-26th, 2020, at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.
Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi: Language Development From an Ecological Perspective
Virtual (register for Zoom link)The philosophy of cognitive science reading group will host Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi for a virtual talk on her 2018 paper, Language Development From an Ecological Perspective: Ecologically Valid Ways to Abstract Symbols.