BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//The Rotman Institute of Philosophy - ECPv6.11.0.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca X-WR-CALDESC:Events for The Rotman Institute of Philosophy REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Toronto BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20130310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20131103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20140309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20141102T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20150308T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20151101T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20150116T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20150116T120000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170818T182141Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T160623Z UID:18146-1421404200-1421409600@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Sarah Hannan: Why Parental Interests Cannot Justify Unlimited Procreation DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nMany people believe that procreation is permissible in light of the powerful interest would-be parents have in rearing children. This paper challenges that assumption\, and progresses in three sections. First\, I argue that childhood is bad for children in many significant ways. Second\, I suggest that the badness of childhood poses a challenge for those who think that an interest in occupying the role of parent can ground a moral right to procreate. Analogous role cases illustrate that we do not normally think it is permissible to put individuals in a bad state—even temporarily—so that we might help them out of it. For instance\, it is clear that one should not injure others in order to create a need for doctors\, and thus satisfy her interest in occupying that role. Finally\, I argue that even if we concede that parental interests are capable of morally justifying procreation\, these same interests also limit the exercise of procreative rights. The unlimited procreative freedom assumed by many\, and enshrined in various human rights documents\, cannot be justified. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n \nSarah Hannan received her D.Phil. in Political Theory from Oxford. Her dissertation was entitled “Balancing Parental Authority and Children’s Rights: A Role-Based Solution.” While at Stanford\, Hannan joined the Spencer Project\, examining equality of opportunity in education. She developed sections of her thesis for publication and work on issues surrounding the purported right to procreate. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg\, Canada. \nRead more about Sarah Hannan. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/sarah-hannan-parental-interests-cannot-justify-unlimited-procreation/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ethics ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141114T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141114T120000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T001918Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T162714Z UID:18261-1415961000-1415966400@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Peter Achinstein: What is a Theory of Everything and Why Should We Want One? DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nScientists and philosophers who seek\, or advocate seeking\, a “theory of everything” (e.g.\, string theory\, Thomas Nagel’s panpsychic theory\, David Chalmers’ “construction of the world”) want to produce a grand\, unifying theory that can explain everything on the basis of fundamental laws and constituents of the universe. Advocates of this idea offer very general empirical\, or a priori\, or methodological reasons for doing so. These reasons are worth examining and criticizing. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n \nPeter Achinstein specializes in philosophy of science and has interests in the history of science as well. In addition to numerous articles and reviews in these fields\, he is the author of Concepts of Science (1968)\, Law and Explanation (1971)\, The Nature of Explanation (1983)\, and Particles and Waves (1991). The latter\, which received the Lakatos Award\, is a study of methodological problems arising from three episodes in 19th-century physics: the wave-particle debate about light\, the development of the kinetic-molecular theory\, and the discovery of the electron. Recent publications include The Book of Evidence (2001)\, which develops a theory of scientific evidence and applies it to cases in the history of science\, Science Rules: A Historical Introduction to Scientific Methods (2004)\, Scientific Evidence (2005)\, and Evidence\, Explanation\, and Realism (2010)\, which is a collection of his essays. In 2011\, he was honored by a festschrift\, Philosophy of Science Matters: The Philosophy of Peter Achinstein. This contains 20 papers on his work by former students and other important writers. His latest work\, Evidence and Method\, which discusses the scientific methods of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell\, will be published in 2013. He has held Guggenheim\, NEH\, and NSF fellowships\, and has served as a visiting professor at MIT\, Stanford\, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a founder and Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for History and Philosophy of Science. \nRead more about Peter Achinstein. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/peter-achinstein-theory-everything-want-one/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/achinsteinFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141113T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141113T120000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T002213Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T002213Z UID:18264-1415874600-1415880000@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Peter Achinstein: Who Needs Proof? James Clerk Maxwell on Scientific Method DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nIsaac Newton famously claimed that hypotheses\, i.e.\, unproved propositions\, have no place in “experimental philosophy.” Maxwell disagreed and proposed three methods that can legitmately be employed when a scientist lacks proof for a theory\, or even a theory to be proved. What are these methods\, and are they legitimate? \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n \nPeter Achinstein specializes in philosophy of science and has interests in the history of science as well. In addition to numerous articles and reviews in these fields\, he is the author of Concepts of Science (1968)\, Law and Explanation (1971)\, The Nature of Explanation (1983)\, and Particles and Waves (1991). The latter\, which received the Lakatos Award\, is a study of methodological problems arising from three episodes in 19th-century physics: the wave-particle debate about light\, the development of the kinetic-molecular theory\, and the discovery of the electron. Recent publications include The Book of Evidence (2001)\, which develops a theory of scientific evidence and applies it to cases in the history of science\, Science Rules: A Historical Introduction to Scientific Methods (2004)\, Scientific Evidence (2005)\, and Evidence\, Explanation\, and Realism (2010)\, which is a collection of his essays. In 2011\, he was honored by a festschrift\, Philosophy of Science Matters: The Philosophy of Peter Achinstein. This contains 20 papers on his work by former students and other important writers. His latest work\, Evidence and Method\, which discusses the scientific methods of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell\, will be published in 2013. He has held Guggenheim\, NEH\, and NSF fellowships\, and has served as a visiting professor at MIT\, Stanford\, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a founder and Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for History and Philosophy of Science. \nRead more about Peter Achinstein. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/peter-achinstein-needs-proof-james-clerk-maxwell-scientific-method/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/achinsteinFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141110T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141110T120000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T002350Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T002350Z UID:18266-1415615400-1415620800@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Ioannis Votsis: Debunking the Instrument Conspiracy DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nObservations made through instruments that cannot also be made with our unaided sensory organs lack epistemic credibility\, claim the constructive empiricists. One well-known challenge to this view draws attention to the fact that distinct types of instruments have been known to yield the same or at least highly similar observational outputs. The implication\, of course\, is that the convergence of output is evidence of the ability of those instruments to detect real features of the world. To meet this challenge\, the constructive empiricist attempts to argue that the convergence is an artefact of the practice of calibration. In this talk\, I argue that this is desperate\, conspiratorial\, attempt to rule out the veridicality of the output of instruments. My inquiry is framed around a broader discussion of what makes unaided sensory organs epistemically credible. Surprisingly\, constructive empiricists say nothing on this matter. Against this background\, I put forth a proposal for what lends unaided sensory organs epistemic credibility and\, unsurprisingly\, argue that the same credibility is extended to several types of instruments. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\nIoannis Votsis a Senior Lecturer at the New College of the Humanities in London and the Assistant Director of the Duesseldorf Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science. His main area of expertise is the philosophy of science but he also has active research interests in metaphysics\, philosophy of language\, philosophy of logic\, philosophy of artificial intelligence and meta-philosophy. \nRead more about Ioannis Votsis. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/ioannis-votsis-debunking-instrument-conspiracy/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141029T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141029T170000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T002639Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181018T184936Z UID:18268-1414594800-1414602000@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Leonard Smith and Erica Thompson: Doing Science in the Dark: The Challenges of Climate-Like Science DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nClimate prediction and weather prediction are very different: due to constant refinements and new techniques\, the life time of a climate model is much less than the forecast we ask it to make\, whereas the same weather model can be used to forecast tomorrow’s weather\, day after day\, for months if not years — allowing us to learn from our mistakes. By contrast\, climate science is continually exploring new territory\, using new and unproven techniques. The challenges of doing science partly in the dark\, past successes and failures\, and many examples will be discussed. No background knowledge of climate\, weather or maths will be assumed. \nSPEAKER PROFILES\n\n \nLeonard Smith is the Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS) and Research Professor in the Department of Statistics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Smith has been developing\, within CATS\, a coherent framework for using imperfect models to better understand and predict real dynamical systems. This has involved working with operational weather models of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts\, the UK Met Office\, the US National Centres for Environmental Prediction and the US Naval Research Laboratory’s NOGAPS system. He is also involved in developing methods of experimental design for climate-like applications based within the framework of Indistinguishable States. He is currently working on the experimental design for the EU ENSEMBLES project and the analysis of data from the DEMETER project. \nRead more about Leonard Smith. \nErica Thompson is a Research Officer at CATS. Her interests focus on how to identify meaningful and useful projections of future climate\, how different types of model output can be used to inform these projections\, and how to think about uncertainty. She looked at some of these questions in the context of North Atlantic storms for her PhD at Imperial College. Her background is in the physical sciences\, having studied physics and mathematics at Cambridge University. Erica has also worked for the UK Energy Research Centre on an assessment of global oil depletion and for the Grantham Institute at Imperial College as a research assistant in climate policy; she is also interested in climate and energy policy and the role of scientific advice in policy-making. \nEVENT VIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/leonard-smith-erica-thompson-science-dark-challenges-climate-like-science/ LOCATION:Stevenson & Hunt Room A – Central Library\, 251 Dundas St\, London\, Ontario\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy,Library Lectures,Public Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/conferenceFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20141023 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20141027 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T002916Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181220T202026Z UID:18270-1414094400-1414353599@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Rotman 2014 Annual Conference: Knowledge and Models in Climate Science DESCRIPTION:CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION\n\nThe Rotman Institute of Philosophy second annual conference\, Knowledge and Models in Climate Science: Philosophical\, Historical\, and Scientific Perspectives\, took place on Oct. 24-26\, 2014. The conference brought together researchers to discuss the use of models in understanding the climate from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Models and computer simulations are essential not only for understanding the factors determining climate processes\, but also for evaluating how changes in climate will affect ecosystems and human societies. Recent gains in modeling precision and realism have allowed climate researchers to address both questions more confidently\, yet there are many remaining sources of uncertainty. Participants in the conference explored different approaches to modeling in order to gain a better understanding of the nature\, strengths and limitations of the knowledge it produces\, and built a better understanding of the means by which these uncertainties can be managed. \nSCHEDULE\n\nPlenary speakers at the conference were: \nGregor Betz (Karlsruher Institute for Technology)\nPaul Edwards (University of Michigan)\nJames Fleming (Colby College)\nReto Knutti (ETH Zurich)\nRobert Lempert (Pardee RAND Graduate School)\nLinda Mearns (National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR))\nWendy Parker (Durham University)\nGavin Schmidt (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA))\nLeonard Smith (London School of Economics)\nEric Winsberg (The University of South Florida)\nCharlotte Werndl (University of Salzburg) \nDownload conference poster. \nVIDEO PLAYLIST URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/rotman-2014-annual-conference-knowledge-models-climate-science/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Annual Rotman Conferences,Conference,Ecological Philosophy ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/conference2FCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141023T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141023T170000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T003238Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181017T152939Z UID:18272-1414076400-1414083600@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Public Panel Discussion: Climate Change: What is to be done? DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nA public panel discussion about what can\, and what should\, be done about climate change\, with a focus on interplay between various levels of action – community\, national\, and international. Also discussed will be how we can cut through the ideological noise around the issue of climate change. \nSPEAKER PROFILES\n\nGary Brown\nGary Brown is active in politics within the City of London\, and in addition to supporting many environmental and community groups\, serves as a board member on the Old South Community Organization. He has run three times for provincial office in London West. He is the principle organizer of London’s largest community festival\, Gathering on the Green\, is a volunteer for ReForest London\, and sits on the newly formed Cycling Advisory Committee. \nRadoslav Dimitrov\nRadoslav Dimitrov specializes in global environmental politics\, international climate change negotiations\, and UN diplomacy. Theoretical work: science and environmental policy\, argumentation and persuasion in politics\, and norms in world politics. His award-winning work introduced the concept of nonregimes to the field of global governance\, through studies on coral reefs policy and global forest negotiations. Read more about Radoslav Dimitrov. \nHeather Douglas\nHeather Douglas received her PhD in History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) at the University of Pittsburgh in 1998. From 1998-2004\, She was the Phibbs Assistant Professor of Science and Ethics at the University of Puget Sound. She then worked in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Tennessee (2004-2011). She spent a year at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh as a visiting fellow (2010-2011) and a semester as a visiting professor in HPS at Pitt before taking up her position at the University of Waterloo in 2012. Read more about Heather Douglas. \nJeffrey Simpson\nSimpson was born in New York and moved to Canada when he was 10 years old. He was educated at the University of Toronto. He graduated from Queen’s University in 1971 in History and Political Science. While at Queen’s he worked for the campus radio station CFRC. He won the University’s Tricolour Award in his graduating year. He then went on to the London School of Economics. In 1972–1973\, he worked as a Parliamentary Intern in Ottawa where he worked for Ed Broadbent. A year later\, he joined The Globe and Mail newspaper. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/public-panel-discussion-climate-change-done/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy,Library Lectures,Public Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/panelFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141022T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141022T170000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T003620Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T003620Z UID:18275-1413990000-1413997200@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Roman Frigg: Climate Change and Intergenerational Justice DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nShould we take drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now\, or should we continue our current practices and leave it to future generations to adapt to the effects of climate change? Opinions on this issue are divided. In this lecture I explain the terms of the debate in plain English (no knowledge of either climate science or economics is presupposed)\, and defend what I think is the most reasonable position. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nRoman Frigg is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy\, Logic and Scientific Method\, Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS)\, and Co-Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a permanent visiting professor in the Munich Centre for Mathematical Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. He held visiting appointments in the Rotman Institute of Philosophy of the University of Western Ontario\, the Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities of the University of Utrecht\, the Sydney Centre for the Foundations of Science of the University of Sydney\, and the Department of Logic\, History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Barcelona. He is associate editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science\, member of the steering committee of the European Philosophy of Science Association\, and serves on a number of editorial and advisory boards. \nHe holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of London and masters degrees both in theoretical physics and philosophy from the University of Basel\, Switzerland. His research interests lie in general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics\, and he has published papers on climate change\, quantum mechanics\, statistical mechanics\, randomness\, chaos\, complexity\, probability\, scientific realism\, computer simulations\, modelling\, scientific representation\, reductionism\, confirmation\, and the relation between art and science. His current work focuses on predictability and climate change\, the foundation of statistical mechanics\, and the nature of scientific models and theories. \nRead more about Roman Frigg. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/roman-frigg-climate-change-intergenerational-justice/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141015T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141015T170000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T003959Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181018T184749Z UID:18277-1413385200-1413392400@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Gillian Barker: Ecological Thinking about Climate Change: A New Paradigm? DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nA growing group of scientists and activists is calling for a “paradigm shift” in our thinking about the threat of climate change and how best to respond to it—a shift to an ecological approach that emphasizes the role of living systems. What do they mean? Are they right? \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nGillian Barker is a philosopher of science with interdisciplinary training in the philosophy\, history\, and social studies of science from the University of Toronto and the University of California\, San Diego. Gillian’s dissertation research investigated how scientists move from data about particular instances to knowledge about general patterns in the world\, looking at the use of idealized models\, analogies and metaphors in achieving this transition. She continues to work on questions about the origin and role of the conceptual models that shape scientific thought. She has written on the implications of naturalism—thinking scientifically about philosophical issues—for our understanding of functions\, goals\, purposes and meanings\, and for our conceptions of ‘rightness’ and ‘wrongness’ both in ethics and in the broader sense. Her current work focuses on how organisms actively control aspects of their own environments\, including other organisms\, and what this implies for our understanding of their evolution and behavior. \nFor more information on Gillian Barker’s research and publications\, please see her research website. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/gillian-barker-ecological-thinking-climate-change-new-paradigm/ LOCATION:Stevenson & Hunt Room A – Central Library\, 251 Dundas St\, London\, Ontario\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy,Library Lectures,Public Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20141008T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20141008T170000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T004214Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181018T184658Z UID:18279-1412780400-1412787600@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Wayne Myrvold: What Do You Bring to a Street Fight? DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nAn editorial in the journal Nature warned climate scientists that they must acknowledge that\, like it or not\, they are in a street fight. Climate scientists have been the targets of a well-funded\, orchestrated campaign to discredit them and their work. In this talk\, I will raise the question of what scientists can do in the face of such tactics and what we\, as citizens aiming to remain well-informed on matters of importance\, can do. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nWayne Myrvold is a philosopher of science\, whose work is chiefly concerned with the philosophy of physics\, and\, in particular with the interpretation of quantum mechanics. He has interest in confirmation theory (or perhaps\, better\, in the relation between theory and evidence)\, and has done work on this in a Bayesian context. He has a long-standing interest in the philosophy of biology which has yet to result in any published contributions to that field. \nHe has been a member of the Philosophy Department at Western since 1997. In AY 2004-2005\, he spent half of a sabbatical year at the University of Oxford\, and in AY 08-09 spent a fully year there as a visiting Departmental Lecturer in the Philosophy of Physics. In the Winter Term of 2011 he was visiting faculty in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. He is an Affiliate Member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He is a member of the Time and Universe research cluster. He is also Subject Editor for Quantum Mechanics for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and is on the Editorial Board for Philosophy of Science \nRead more about Wayne Myrvold. \nVIDEO\n\n \n This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Philosophy and the London Public Library. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/wayne-myrvold-bring-street-fight/ LOCATION:Stevenson & Hunt Room A – Central Library\, 251 Dundas St\, London\, Ontario\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy,Library Lectures,Public Events ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140916T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140916T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T004412Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T004412Z UID:18281-1410867000-1410872400@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Karim Thébault: Confirmation Via Analogue Simulation: What Dumb Holes Could Tell Us About Gravity DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nWe argue for the existence of analogue simulation as a novel form of scientific inference with the potential to be confirmatory. This notion is distinct from the modes of analogical reasoning detailed in the literature\, and draws inspiration from fluid dynamical ‘dumb hole’ analogues to gravitational black holes. For that case\, which is considered in detail\, we defend the claim that the phenomena of gravitational Hawking radiation could be confirmed in the case that its counterpart is detected within experiments conducted on diverse realisations of the analogue model. A prospectus is given for further potential cases of analogue simulation in contemporary science. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\nKarim Thébault is currently an assistant professor at the Munich Centre for Mathematical Philosophy\, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU). His research is principally within the philosophy of physics with a particular emphasis on time and symmetry in classical and quantum theories of gravity. He is also interested in structural realism\, probability in quantum mechanics\, and the relationship between analytical mechanics and quantum theory. \nHe did his PhD at Centre for Time\, University of Sydney\, under the supervision of Huw Price and Dean Rickles. He also have an MSc in theoretical physics from Imperial College London\, and a joint honours BA in philosophy and physics from the University of Oxford. \nRead more about Karim Thébault. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/karim-thebault-confirmation-via-analogue-simulation-dumb-holes-tell-us-gravity/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Physics ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140914 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140918 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T004603Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T160415Z UID:18283-1410724800-1410983999@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Roman Frigg: Three-Part Crash Course on the Science of Climate Change DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nThis three-part lecture series focuses on the natural science aspects of climate change\, as well as the methodological and philosophical questions that arise in connection with them. Everybody wishing to understand the basic physics behind climate change and the use of climate models is welcome to attend; no prior knowledge is presupposed. The first lecture explains the earth’s energy balance and introduces basic concepts such as the greenhouse effect\, radiative forcing\, time lags\, feedback loops\, climate sensitivity and climate variability. The second lecture introduces climate models\, ensemble methods\, and discusses what kinds of uncertainties attach to them. The third lecture discusses recent projects aiming to deliver high-resolution climate forecasts out to the end of the century and raises questions about the limits of predictability. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nRoman Frigg is Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy\, Logic and Scientific Method\, Director of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS)\, and Co-Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a permanent visiting professor in the Munich Centre for Mathematical Philosophy of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. He held visiting appointments in the Rotman Institute of Philosophy of the University of Western Ontario\, the Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities of the University of Utrecht\, the Sydney Centre for the Foundations of Science of the University of Sydney\, and the Department of Logic\, History and Philosophy of Science of the University of Barcelona. He is associate editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science\, member of the steering committee of the European Philosophy of Science Association\, and serves on a number of editorial and advisory boards. \nHe holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of London and masters degrees both in theoretical physics and philosophy from the University of Basel\, Switzerland. His research interests lie in general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics\, and he has published papers on climate change\, quantum mechanics\, statistical mechanics\, randomness\, chaos\, complexity\, probability\, scientific realism\, computer simulations\, modelling\, scientific representation\, reductionism\, confirmation\, and the relation between art and science. His current work focuses on predictability and climate change\, the foundation of statistical mechanics\, and the nature of scientific models and theories. \nRead more about Roman Frigg. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/roman-frigg-three-part-crash-course-science-climate-change/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/conferenceFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140905T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140905T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T004831Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T004831Z UID:18285-1409916600-1409922000@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Peter Godfrey-Smith: Memory as Communication DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nMemory can be seen as communication between stages – communication between an earlier and a later self. This idea only becomes more than a loose analogy\, though\, if there is a theory of communication that can add something substantial to our understanding of memory. I’ll argue that recent models of communication\, developed for quite different applications\, can indeed play this role. Application of these ideas to memory can inform debates about the ‘reconstructive’ nature of memory\, the function of episodic memory\, and the relations between memory in genetic\, epigenetic\, and neural systems. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\nPeter Godfrey-Smith is currently a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center\, CUNY (City University of New York). \nHe grew up in Sydney\, Australia. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Sydney\, and he has a PhD in philosophy from UC San Diego. He taught at Stanford University between 1991 and 2003\, and then combined a half-time post at the Australian National University and a visiting position at Harvard for a few years. He moved to Harvard full-time and was Professor there from 2006 to 2011\, before coming to the CUNY Graduate Center. \nHis main research interests are in the philosophy of biology and the philosophy of mind. He also works on pragmatism (especially John Dewey)\, general philosophy of science\, and some parts of metaphysics and epistemology. He has written four books\, Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature (Cambridge\, 1996)\, Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (Chicago\, 2003)\, Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection (Oxford\, 2009)\, which won the 2010 Lakatos Award\, and Philosophy of Biology\, just released by Princeton. \nRead more about Peter Godfrey-Smith. \nEVENT VIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/peter-godfrey-smith-memory-communication/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Mind & Neuroscience ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/godfrey-smithFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140621 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140706 DTSTAMP:20260405T103133 CREATED:20170819T005309Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210714T150118Z UID:18287-1403380800-1404590399@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Causal Powers in Science: Blending Historical and Conceptual Perspectives DESCRIPTION:2014 ROTMAN SUMMER INSTITUTE\n\nThe 2014 Institute brings together philosophers of science and metaphysicians with historians of philosophy to discuss conceptual and historical issues concerning the nature and role of causal powers in science and the prospects of the debate between the neo-Aristotelian and neo-Humean approaches to causation and laws of nature. This is a unique event in blending historical and conceptual perspectives on a central philosophical issue and its relevance to the scientific image of the world. The goal for students is to come away from the course prepared to engage the philosophical and historical literature on causal powers and their place in science at a professional level. Students will attend lectures\, participate in group discussions and present their own work. A special feature of the Institute will be specially designed ‘interactive’ sessions and round tables. Lecture topics include: powers and their place in mechanical philosophy; powers\, causation and the problem of induction; causal structuralism and dispositional essentialism; causal powers and modern science. \nKEYNOTE SPEAKERS\n\n\nBrian Ellis (La Trobe)\nHoward Sankey (Melbourne)\nWalter Ott (Virginia Tech)\n\n2014 SUMMER INSTITUTE FACULTY\n\n\nDeborah Brown (Queensland)\nLisa Downing (Ohio State)\nBenjamin Hill (Western)\nHenrik Lagerlund (Western)\nJennifer McKitrick (Nebraska-Lincoln)\nCalvin Normore (UCLA)\nStathis Psillos (Western)\nHoward Sankey (Melbourne) URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/causal-powers-science-blending-historical-conceptual-perspectives/ LOCATION:Dr. David S.H. Chu International Student Centre\, International and Graduate Affairs Building\, Western University\, London\, Ontario\, Canada CATEGORIES:History of Philosophy of Science,Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/summer-institute-apple.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140606 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140609 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T005546Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210714T150031Z UID:18289-1402084800-1402257599@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Metaphysics Within and Without Physics: Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference DESCRIPTION:18th ANNUAL PHILOSOPHY OF PHYSICS CONFERENCE\n\nThe 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 the scientific image of the world and the various metaphysical theories about its structure and content? \nCONFERENCE SPEAKERS\n\n\nJean Bricmont (Université Catholique de Louvain)\nAnjan Chakravartty (Notre Dame)\nRobert DiSalle (UWO)\nTim Maudlin (NYU)\nKerry McKenzie (UWO)\nWayne Myrvold (UWO)\nStathis Psillos (UWO)\nLaura Ruetsche (Michigan)\nJessica Wilson (Toronto)\n\nView full event details here. \nCONFERENCE PLAYLIST URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/metaphysics-within-without-physics-annual-philosophy-physics-conference/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Conference,Other Conferences,Philosophy of Physics,Stathis Psillos ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/metaphysics-path-cropped.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140606T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140606T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T005753Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T162815Z UID:18291-1402054200-1402059600@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Jean Bricmont: A Physicist Looks at Idealism and Relativism DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nJean Bricmont\, co-author with Alan Sokal of Intellectual Impostures: Postmodern Intellectuals’ Abuse of Science\, will share his thoughts on idealism and relativism\, from the perspective of a physicist. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n \nJean Bricmont is a Belgian theoretical physicist\, philosopher of science and a professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain. He works on renormalization group and nonlinear differential equations. He is mostly known to the non-academic audience for co-authoring Fashionable Nonsense (also known as Intellectual Impostures) with Alan Sokal\, in which they criticise relativism in the philosophy of science. Jean Bricmont also collaborates with activist Noam Chomsky and campaigns on a variety of progressive causes. \nRead more about Jean Bricmont. \nEVENT VIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/jean-bricmont-physicist-looks-idealism-relativism/ LOCATION:Dr. David S.H. Chu International Student Centre\, International and Graduate Affairs Building\, Western University\, London\, Ontario\, Canada CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Physics ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/gif:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/bricmontFCA.gif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140604 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140607 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T171715Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181017T162320Z UID:18296-1401912000-1402084799@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:2014 Philosophy of Logic Math and Physics Graduate Student Conference DESCRIPTION:Join us for the fourteenth annual Philosophy of Logic\, Math and Physics (LMP) graduate student conference in philosophy at Western University in London\, Ontario\, Canada. The LMP Graduate Student Conference will bring together philosophers of logic\, mathematics\, and physics for two days of presentations and discussions with some of the leaders in these fields. \nWe are pleased to announce our keynote speaker this year is Doreen Fraser from The University of Waterloo. With a background in physics and philosophy\, her current research focuses on philosophical issues raised by particle physics. Read more about Doreen Fraser. \nFor program\, accommodation details and past conferences visit http://logicmathphysics.ca/. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/2014-philosophy-logic-math-physics-graduate-student-conference/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Conference,Graduate Student Events,Philosophy of Physics ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/campus.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140528 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20140601 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T171901Z LAST-MODIFIED:20181017T162326Z UID:18298-1401307200-1401566399@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:2014 PhilMiLCog Graduate Conference DESCRIPTION:PhilMiLCog is a three-day graduate conference with a broad and interdisciplinary scope. The conference\, now in its 12th year\, is recognized as one of the top philosophy graduate conferences in North America\, synthesizing research from the Philosophy of Mind\, Language\, and Cognitive science\, including psychology\, linguistics\, evolution\, and computer science. PhilMiLCog provides an opportunity for graduate students with common interests from various departments in North America and Europe to come together and participate in lively scholarly research with a leading experts in their field. \nKeynote Speakers: \nProfessor Berit Brogaard (Philosophy\, University of Missouri St. Louis)\nProfessor Angela Mendelovici (Philosophy\, University of Western Ontario)\nProfessor Melvyn Goodale (Psychology\, University of Western Ontario) \nFor more information\, visit http://publish.uwo.ca/~mivanowi/philmilcog/index.html. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/2014-philmilcog-graduate-conference/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Conference,Graduate Student Events,Philosophy of Mind & Neuroscience ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/cropped-myc-matter-neurons.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140414T070000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140414T083000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T172112Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T161233Z UID:18300-1397458800-1397464200@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Charlotte Werndl: Confirmation and Calibration in Climate Science DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nI argue that concerns about double-counting – using the same evidence both to calibrate or tune climate models and also to confirm that the models are adequate – deserve more careful scrutiny in climate modelling circles. It is widely held that double-counting is bad and that separate data must be used for calibration and confirmation. I show that this is not true\, and that climate scientists may be confusing their targets. My analysis turns on a Bayesian/relative-likelihood approach to incremental confirmation. According to this approach\, double-counting is entirely proper. I go on to discuss plausible difficulties with calibrating climate models\, and I distinguish more and less ambitious notions of confirmation. Strong claims of confirmation may not\, in many cases\, be warranted\, but it would be a mistake to regard double-counting as the culprit. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nCharlotte Werndl is an Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy\, Logic and Scientific Method\, at the London School of Economics. She will be Full Professor for logic and philosophy of science at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Salzburg from September 2014 onwards. She is an associate editor of the European Journal for the Philosophy of Science and an editor of the Review of Symbolic Logic. \nRead more about Charlotte Werndl. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/charlotte-werndl-confirmation-calibration-climate-science/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/conferenceFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140410T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140410T163000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T172431Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T162343Z UID:18303-1397142000-1397147400@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Joel Lexchin: Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Clinical Trials DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nPharmaceutical companies fund the bulk of clinical research and this funding can introduce biases into the research through methods such as influencing the choice of standards of comparison\, only publishing positive trials\, reinterpreting data submitted to regulatory agencies\, ghostwriting\, and the use of “seeding” trials. There is no evidence that any of the measures introduced so far have stopped this bias and it’s not clear that they have even slowed down the process. What is needed is a paradigm change in the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the conduct and reporting of clinical trials. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nDr. Lexchin is an emergency physician at The University Health Network and a Professor in the School of Health Policy and Management at York University and an Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is co-author of Drugs of Choice: A Formulary for General Practice and author of Drug Therapy for Emergency Physicians. \nRead more about Joel Lexchin. \nVIDEO\n\n \nThis event is co-sponsored by Situating Science. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/joel-lexchin-gold-make-evidence-pharmaceutical-industry-clinical-trials/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ethics,Science and Values ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140404T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140404T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T172751Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T160913Z UID:18306-1396611000-1396616400@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Bas van Fraassen: The Semantic Approach to Science\, After 50 Years DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nThe 1960s saw many revolutions\, worldwide\, and some of that epoch’s revolutionary spirit manifested itself in philosophy of science\, with strong reactions against the dominant ‘received view’ of Logical Positivism. Scientific realism emerged to dispute ontology\, Kuhn single-handedly turned our eyes back to history of science\, and the semantic approach replaced the methodological framework for philosophers of science. The Logical Positivist revolution had just about reached age 50 at the time; today the semantic approach is about 50 years old as well. I will discuss its development\, fortunes and misfortunes\, suggest that a new\, third revolution is due\, and invite speculation about what it might be. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nBastiaan Cornelis van Fraassen is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University and the McCosh Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University\, teaching courses in the philosophy of science\, philosophical logic and the role of models in scientific practice. He previously taught at Yale University\, the University of Southern California (USC)\, the University of Toronto and Princeton University. He coined the term “constructive empiricism” in his 1980 book The Scientific Image\, in which he argued for agnosticism about the reality of unobservable entities. \nRead more about Bas van Fraassen. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/bas-van-fraassen-semantic-approach-science-50-years/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/frassen-fca.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140403T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140403T143000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T173006Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T160317Z UID:18308-1396530000-1396535400@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Bas van Fraassen: The Self\, From a Logical Point of View DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nOur sense of self is readily extrapolated to engender paradoxes\, but that sense is not easily dismissed even when the logical aporiai are exposed. \nWhat Kant called the illusions of reason beckon here\, but their false promises may be shown up if we subject the possibility of ‘objective’ scientific accounts of ourselves to a deeper logical scrutiny. Can we avoid the logical difficulties by trying instead to ‘naturalize’ and understand ourselves in the same way as we understand natural systems? There too logical paradoxes may return\, and I will discuss the implications of Thomason’s paradox for the language of belief. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nBastiaan Cornelis van Fraassen is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University and the McCosh Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University\, teaching courses in the philosophy of science\, philosophical logic and the role of models in scientific practice. He previously taught at Yale University\, the University of Southern California (USC)\, the University of Toronto and Princeton University. He coined the term “constructive empiricism” in his 1980 book The Scientific Image\, in which he argued for agnosticism about the reality of unobservable entities. \nRead more about Bas van Fraassen. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/bas-van-fraassen-self-logical-point-view/ LOCATION:Great Hall – Somerville House\, Somerville House\, Western University\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/frassen-fca.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140321T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140321T130000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T173248Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T173248Z UID:18310-1395401400-1395406800@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Jonathan Kimmelman: Anatomy of Clinical Translation: Ethics\, Epistemology\, and Policy DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nThe clinical translation process is widely viewed as plagued by inefficiency\, error\, and delay. However\, such views- and the research reforms aimed at correcting these deficiencies- draw on a problematic understanding of the nature of clinical translation (the “pipeline model”). In what follows\, I use the recently translated cancer drug sunitinib to illustrate an alternative model for clinical translation (the “dynamic learning model”). This model is marked by three central features. First\, clinical translation is less about developing drugs than it is about developing intervention ensembles- that is\, packages of materials\, practices\, and knowledge needed to effectuate the clinical utility of new drugs. Second\, clinical translation is marked by clinical research activities that have two distinct epistemic goals: discovery vs. confirmation. Third\, a key task of clinical translation is the refinement of theories that drive clinical decision-making at the bedside. I close by unfolding some of the implications of this model for debates in research ethics\, medical practice\, and drug regulation. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nJohnathan Kimmelman is Associate Professor in the Biomedical Ethics Unit / Social Studies of Medicine. He has cross appointments in Experimental Medicine\, Epidemiology\, Biostatistics and Occupational Health\, and Human Genetics. Kimmelman holds a PhD in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University\, and joined McGill in 2005. His research revolves around the ethical\, social and policy dimensions of translational research. \nRead more about Jonathan Kimmelman.\n \n \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/jonathan-kimmelman-anatomy-clinical-translation-ethics-epistemology-policy/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Ethics ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/Carbolic-Acid-Poison-Bottlespurchased.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140312T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140312T143000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T173536Z LAST-MODIFIED:20171206T145701Z UID:18314-1394629200-1394634600@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Howard Eichenbaum: The Hippocampus in Space and Time DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nIn humans\, hippocampal function is generally recognized as supporting episodic memory\, which is characterized by the organization of experience over time\, whereas in rats\, many believe that the hippocampus creates maps of the environment and supports spatial navigation. How do we reconcile the episodic memory and spatial mapping views of hippocampal function? Here I will discuss evidence that\, during learning of what happens where\, hippocampal place cells map the locations of events in their spatial context. In addition\, I will describe recent findings that\, during learning of what happens when map specific events within their temporal context. These findings support an emerging view that the hippocampus supports episodic memory by creating a “scaffolding” for the organization of events within their spatial and temporal context. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nHoward Eichenbaum is a University Professor at Boston University\, where he is also the Director of the Center for Memory and Brain\, Director of the Center for Neuroscience\, and Director of the Undergraduate Program in Neuroscience. Dr. Eichenbaum received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Michigan and also pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at M.I.T. \nRead more about Howard Eichenbaum. \n  \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/howard-eichenbaum-hippocampus-space-time/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Mind & Neuroscience ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/EichenbaumFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140128T083000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140128T100000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T173750Z LAST-MODIFIED:20200608T163132Z UID:18318-1390897800-1390903200@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Douglas Kutach: Empirical Fundamentalism DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nThe program is built on two main ideas. First\, metaphysics should be understood primarily in term of a certain concept of fundamental reality. The fundamental/derivative distinction is meant to replace a variety of competitors such as the reality/appearance distinction\, the objective/subjective distinction\, the scientific and manifest image\, the realism/anti-realism distinction\, and the distinction between primary and secondary qualities. Second\, a concept should analyzed in terms of experiments that reveal why the concept is valuable. I will illustrate how Empirical Fundamentalism resolves problems in the metaphysics of causation. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nDouglas Kutach is a 2014 Visiting Fellow of Western University. He is the founder of Empirical Fundamentalism\, a philosophical program that exploits a distinctive conception of fundamentality and the method of empirical analysis in order to pronounce on a range of traditional philosophical problems. His recent book (August 2013) Causation and Its Basis in Fundamental Physics applies this program to causation. His articles within this program also address modality\, natural kinds\, reductive identities\, the passage of time\, and the epistemic “arrow of time”.Read more about Kutach here. \nRead more about Douglas Kutach. URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/douglas-kutach-empirical-fundamentalism/ LOCATION:Room 1145 – Stevenson Hall\, Stevenson Hall\, Room 1145\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/globalFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20140124T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20140124T120000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T174015Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210714T145952Z UID:18320-1390559400-1390564800@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Stathis Psillos: Revisiting the ‘Bankruptcy of Science’ Debate DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nThe ‘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 concerned the scope and limits of the scientific worldview and the relation between science and religion\, but in later stages (especially when Henri Poincare got involved in it) it was focused on the very idea of objectivity of science and scientific progress. At the same time\, another debate concerning the alleged ‘bankruptcy of atomism’ was taking place among scientists in Europe\, targeting atomism as a scientific worldview as well as a theory about the structure of matter. Various important arguments for and against a realist conception of science were launched in the context of these inter-connected debates (such as the so-called ‘pessimistic induction’) and versions of structural realism were advanced in response to them. Significantly\, the history of science and various forms of invariance were appealed to by participants in order to defend a realist conception of science. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nStathis Psillos received his PhD in Philosophy of Science in 1994 from King’s College London. Between 1993 and 1998 he was initially assistant editor and subsequently deputy editor of the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Between 1995 and 1998\, he was a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow\, at the Dept of Philosophy\, Logic and Scientific Method\, London School of Economics. Since 1998\, he has been a Research Associate of the Centre for the Philosophy of the Natural and Social Sciences\, London School of Economics. He joined the Dept of Philosophy and History of Science in the University of Athens\, Greece\, in 1999. He was among the founders of European Philosophy of Science Association and served as its first elected President (2007-2009). He is currently the editor of the journal Metascience. \nRead more about Stathis Psillos. \n \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/stathis-psillos-revisiting-bankruptcy-science-debate/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science,Stathis Psillos ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/Vbn.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20131108T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20131108T120000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T174456Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T174456Z UID:18323-1383906600-1383912000@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Michaela Massimi: Perspectival Realism DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nIn her talk\, Massimi will review the problems and prospects of scientific perspectivism. Scientific perspectivism has been advocated as a philosophical view that can account for the use of incompatible models in science\, and as a middle ground between scientific realism and relativism. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\nMichela Massimi is a senior lecturer in Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. She works primarily on philosophy of science\, Kant\, and the intersection between contemporary philosophical problems and historical and contemporary scientific practice. \nRead more about Michela Massimi. \n \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/michaela-massimi-perspectival-realism/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/arches-massimi-e1435337334963.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20131004 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20131007 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T174817Z LAST-MODIFIED:20210714T150323Z UID:18325-1380916800-1381089599@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Rotman 2013 Annual Conference: Science and Reality DESCRIPTION:CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION\n\nScience has changed the ways we think of\, and act on\, the world. But do we really understand the relation between scientific theories and the world? Are there different perspectives on the world? How can it be that science\, a characteristically human and social endeavour\, yields successful predictions and fruitful explanations? What is the role of mathematics in shaping the structure of explanation in science? How do the various theories and disciplines hang together in crafting the scientific image of the world? Is this image a product of synthesis or rivalry between theories? Can we be\, or indeed ought we be\, confident about the scientific image of the world? Can the history of science teach us how to do better science and how to limit or enhance the cognitive aspirations of modern science? What is the role of chance in science? How does probability enter the scientific image? What does science tell us about the natural laws and causation\, which David Hume called\, ‘the cement of the universe’? \nThese are distinctively philosophical questions at the core of general philosophy of science as well as the philosophies of the various sciences. They have been pursued by philosophers and philosophically-minded scientists\, highlighting the engagement of science with philosophy and of philosophy with science. Stathis Psillos\, in his work on scientific realism and the metaphysics of science\, and Carl Hoefer\, in his research on the structure of spacetime and objective chance in science\, have addressed these questions and have demonstrated that philosophy of science can aim to offer enlightening and exciting answers to them both at the general level of science as a cognitive enterprise and the particular level of concrete scientific theories. \nDownload conference poster. \nSCHEDULE\n\nThis conference\, an event welcoming Carl Hoefer and Stathis Psillos to Western and the Rotman Institute\, brings together an exceptional international panel of leading philosophers of science whose work has set the standards in many debates to discuss the relation(s) between science and reality and to advance\, with fresh ideas\, arguments and approaches\, our thinking about the connections between scientific theories and reality. \nRichard Boyd (Cornell University) – More Correspondence\, Not Less; and Causation Too \nCraig Callender (University of California\, San Diego) – LOST IN SPACE: Is the Quantum State It or Bit? \nWilliam L. Harper (Western University – Emeritus) – Isaac Newton’s Scientific Method \nJenann Ismael (University of Arizona) – Against Ontic Chances: Three Cheers for the Third Way on Objective Probabilities \nElaine Landry (University of California\, Davis) – Structural Realism and Category Mistakes \nMarc Lange (University of North Carolina\, Chapel Hill) – Aspects of Mathematical Explanation \nMargaret Morrison (University of Toronto) – Why Perspectivism is Philosophically Idle \nElliott Sober (University of Wisconsin-Madison) – Parsimony and Chimpanzee Mind-Reading \nJohn Worrall (London School of Economics) – Real (“Ramsey –Sentence”) Structural Realism: Why Psillos is Wrong \nVIDEO PLAYLIST URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/rotman-annual-conference-2013-science-reality/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Annual Rotman Conferences,Conference,Philosophy of Science ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/science-realityFCA.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20131004T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20131004T170000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T175113Z LAST-MODIFIED:20220816T170817Z UID:18327-1380898800-1380906000@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:Naomi Oreskes: Merchants of Doubt: Using History and Philosophy of Science to Understand the Climate Change Debate DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nOn vital issues such as genetically-modified foods and climate change\, having correct scientific knowledge is vital for making good public policy. How does philosophy help us understand science? How strong is the scientific consensus about climate change\, and the effects our species has on it? Naomi Oreskes\, co-author of the award-winning book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming\, has studied the climate change debate as a historian and philosopher\, and will explore the above questions\, and more. Oreskes courageous work to expose deliberate attempts to sow confusion and doubt about important issues\, such as climate change\, is not based in rhetoric\, as it is with some of the ‘merchants of doubt’ she writes about\, but on looking at science using philosophical techniques. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nNaomi Oreskes is an American historian of science\, and Professor at Harvard University (where she moved in Summer 2013 from the University of California\, San Diego). She has worked on studies of geophysics\, environmental issues such as global warming\, and the history of science. In 2010\, Oreskes co-authored Merchants of Doubt\, which identified parallels between the climate change debate and earlier public controversies. \nRead more about Naomi Oreskes. \nThe evening will be moderated by Paul Kennedy\, host of Ideas on CBC Radio One. \n  \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/naomi-oreskes-merchants-doubt-using-history-philosophy-science-understand-climate-change-debate/ LOCATION:Great Hall – Somerville House\, Somerville House\, Western University\, London\, Ontario\, N6G 2V4\, Canada CATEGORIES:Ecological Philosophy,Public Events,Public Lectures,Rotman Lectures ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/oreskes-optmized-tb.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20130913T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20130913T143000 DTSTAMP:20260405T103134 CREATED:20170819T175357Z LAST-MODIFIED:20170819T175357Z UID:18329-1379077200-1379082600@www.rotman.uwo.ca SUMMARY:William Bechtel: Investigating Neural Representations: The Tale of Place Cells DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\nWhile neuroscientists often characterize brain activity as representational\, many philosophers have construed this as just a theorist’s gloss on the mechanism. Moreover\, philosophical discussions commonly treat neuroscience accounts as finished accounts\, not as works in progress. I adopt a different perspective\, considering how characterizations of neural activity as representational contributes to the development of mechanistic accounts\, guiding the questions neuroscientists ask as they work from an initial proposal to a more detailed understanding of a mechanism. In this talk I develop one illustrative example involving research on the information processing mechanisms mammals employ in navigating their environments. This research was galvanized by the discovery in the 1970s of place cells in the hippocampus. This discovery prompted research about how place representations are constructed in the relevant hippocampal neurons and how they figure in navigation. It also led to the discovery of a host of other types of neurons—grid cells\, head-direction cells\, boundary cells—that interact with place cells in the mechanism underlying spatial navigation. As I will try to make clear\, the research is explicitly devoted to identifying representations and determining how they are constructed and used in an information processing mechansm. Accounts in terms of representations are not a mere gloss but as theoretical commitments in the development of the explanatory accounts by the neuroscientists. \nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n\nWilliam Bechtel is a professor of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and the Science Studies Program at the University of California\, San Diego. He was a Professor of Philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis from 1994 until 2002. Bechtel was also the chair of the Philosophy Department from 1999 until 2002 and was heavily involved with the Philosophy-Psychology-Neuroscience program\, serving at different times as Assistant Director and Director. Before that\, he was at Georgia State. Bechtel earned his PhD from the University of Chicago and his BA from Kenyon College. \nRead more about William Bechtel. \nVIDEO URL:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/event/william-bechtel-investigating-neural-representations-tale-place-cells/ LOCATION:ON CATEGORIES:Philosophy of Mind & Neuroscience ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.rotman.uwo.ca/wp-content/uploads/bechtelFCA.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR