The fall semester has officially come to a close, and as we prepare to break for the holidays, The Rotman Institute would like to acknowledge the accomplishments of some of our student members. 2015 has been an exciting year -- we've had seven Rotman graduate students successfully defend their theses. Their names, along with the titles [...]
Leonard Smith and Erica Thompson, of the London School of Economics, delivered a lecture on October 29, 2014 entitled, Doing Science in the Dark: The Challenges of Climate-Like Science. This lecture was presented at the Central Library as part of the 2014 Library Speaker Series, co-sponsored with the London Public Library. Video of this lecture [...]
By Amy Wuest The philosophy program at Western University is internationally ranked, both as an overall department and within a number of specialties, namely feminist philosophy, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of physics, the history of analytic philosophy, and others. At the Rotman Institute of Philosophy students have the opportunity to pursue these topics [...]
In celebration of the centenary of Einstein’s publication of general relativity, the Rotman Institute of Philosophy celebrated Einstein@Rotman -- a year-long program of events, including an academic conference, a successful series of public lectures, and finally, an interactive exhibit for both scholars and the general public; Einstein – Philosopher | Scientist: 100 Years of General [...]
Hugo Critchley, of Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, delivered a lecture on October 15, 2015 entitled, Interoception, Emotion and Self: How the Heart Gates Feelings and Perceptions. Video of this lecture has been posted on the Rotman Institute of Philosophy YouTube channel. Abstract: Information concerning the [...]
Video of Wayne Myrvold's lecture, Einstein and the Atom, has been posted on the Rotman Institute of Philosophy YouTube channel. Abstract: Einstein’s name is widely associated with the “atom bomb,” via the formula E = MC2. Less widely known is that he played a key role in providing evidence that atoms exist at all. One [...]
Video of Doreen Fraser’s lecture, Einstein, God, Dice, and Quantum Mechanics, has been posted on the Rotman Institute of Philosophy YouTube channel. Abstract: Einstein is best known for his contributions to the physics of spacetime, the Special and General Theories of Relativity. However, he also played an important role in the development of quantum mechanics, [...]
Video of Stathis Psillos’s lecture, Engaging Philosophy: Einstein on the Method of Science, has been posted on the Rotman Institute of Philosophy YouTube channel. 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 [...]
Professor Kenneth Waters is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Logic and the Philosophy of Science, and member of The Rotman Institute of Philosophy International Advisory Committee. Earlier this week, it was announced that Professor Waters, along with philosophers Alan Love (University of Minnesota), Marcel Weber (University of Geneva), and William Wimsatt (Universities of [...]
A Remembrance by Dr. James A. Overton: Dr. Cesare Romagnoli died last week after a long fight with cancer. He was a radiologist by vocation, a philosopher by disposition, a member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy by invitation, and a good friend by innate talent. I cannot do justice to the complex person that [...]
