Peace (Forum for Philosophy)

4 February 2020|

 

 

Peace (Forum for Philosophy)

Peace is highly valued, but how is it achieved? Why are some periods in world history relatively peaceful compared to others? What, if anything, can be done to ensure peace now? Are there limits to what we are justified in doing to ensure peace? Is pacifism a justified response to war? We discuss the […]

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    Carina Prunkl (Oxford): “How Anthropocentric is Thermodynamics?”

Carina Prunkl (Oxford): “How Anthropocentric is Thermodynamics?”

9 December 2019|

 

Carina Prunkl (Oxford): “How Anthropocentric is Thermodynamics?”

Thermodynamics “smells more of its human origin than other branches of physics”, Bridgman famously wrote in 1941. Taking a closer look at the history of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, we find that this ‘human smell’ enters the subject as early as the writings of Maxwell, who makes use of concepts such […]

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    Thom Scott-Phillips (Central European University): “The Art Experience”

Thom Scott-Phillips (Central European University): “The Art Experience”

3 December 2019|

 

Thom Scott-Phillips (Central European University): “The Art Experience”

Art theory has consistently emphasised the importance of situational, cultural, institutional and historical factors in viewers’ experience of fine art. However, the link between this heavily context-dependent interpretation and the workings of the mind, and its evolution, is often left unexamined. Drawing on Relevance Theory—a prominent, cogent and […]

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    Peter Achinstein (Johns Hopkins): “Epistemic Simplicity: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel”

Peter Achinstein (Johns Hopkins): “Epistemic Simplicity: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel”

26 November 2019|

 

Peter Achinstein (Johns Hopkins): “Epistemic Simplicity: The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel”

Both Newton and Einstein claim that nature is simple and that simplicity is a sign of truth. Is there any substance to either claim? The talk will be based on some parts of my recent book “Speculation: Within and About Science”.

Peter Achinstein is Professor […]

2019 Lakatos Award Lecture with Henk W. de Regt

22 November 2019|

 

2019 Lakatos Award Lecture with Henk W. de Regt

It is widely acknowledged that a central aim of science is to achieve understanding of the world around us, and that possessing such understanding is highly important in our present-day society. But what precisely is scientific understanding, and when is it achieved?

In his Lakatos Award winning book Understanding Scientific Understanding […]

2019 Lakatos Award Expert Workshop with Henk W. de Regt

21 November 2019|

 

2019 Lakatos Award Expert Workshop with Henk W. de Regt

On 21 November 2019, this half-day workshop addressed issues raised by Henk W. de Regt’s Lakatos Award-winning book, Understanding Scientific Understanding.

This video playlist includes the following talks:

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    Lewis Ross (LSE): “Statistics, Epistemic Gaps, and Legal Risk”

Lewis Ross (LSE): “Statistics, Epistemic Gaps, and Legal Risk”

19 November 2019|

 

Lewis Ross (LSE): “Statistics, Epistemic Gaps, and Legal Risk”

Many philosophers suggest that using statistics to attribute legal liability is deeply problematic. A primary worry is that it would be unfair to hold the defending party responsible on the basis of probability alone. My previous work, focusing on criminal law, suggests that this refusal […]

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    Richard Pettigrew (Bristol): “What is conditionalization, and why should we do it?”

Richard Pettigrew (Bristol): “What is conditionalization, and why should we do it?”

13 November 2019|

 

Richard Pettigrew (Bristol): “What is conditionalization, and why should we do it?”

Conditionalization is one of the central norms of Bayesian epistemology. But there are a number of competing formulations, and a number of arguments that purport to establish it. In this paper, I explore which formulations of the norm are supported by which arguments. […]

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    Johanna Thoma (LSE): “Merely Means Paternalist? Prospect Theory and `Debiased’ Welfare Analysis”

Johanna Thoma (LSE): “Merely Means Paternalist? Prospect Theory and `Debiased’ Welfare Analysis”

30 October 2019|

 

Johanna Thoma (LSE): “Merely Means Paternalist? Prospect Theory and `Debiased’ Welfare Analysis”

Economics has traditionally been opposed to paternalism. However, the findings of behavioural economics have made popular one kind of paternalism that appears to be more innocuous: The kind of paternalism that respects an agent’s ends, or her non-instrumental, intrinsic valuations, […]

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    Fernand Gobet (LSE): “Automatic generation of scientific theories using genetic programming”

Fernand Gobet (LSE): “Automatic generation of scientific theories using genetic programming”

29 October 2019|

 

Fernand Gobet (LSE): “Automatic generation of scientific theories using genetic programming”

The aim of this research is to develop a novel way to use computers to ‘evolve’ scientific theories automatically. By using techniques based on genetic programming and simple building blocks (primitive cognitive mechanisms), theories are automatically built, evolved and tested.  I will present a system […]