Conjectures and Refutations

Conjectures and Refutations is a new seminar series for philosophers and scientists with a shared interest in the philosophy of science. The seminars cover topics in the philosophy of science broadly understood, with a special focus on general philosophy of science and those branches of science not already covered by the Choice Group and Sigma Club. Conjectures and Refutations is a venue for scientifically informed philosophy as well as philosophically informed science. Seminars take place regularly throughout term-time and are free and open to all.

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• Alexander Bird (Cambridge University): ‘To understand is to know’

  18 January 2024, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Inkeri Koskinen (University of Helsinki): Unifying the Notion of Objectivity

  23 November, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Adrian Currie (University of Exeter): ‘Loss, Erasure & the Avalonian Ediacaran’

  11 May, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Sam Clarke (University of Pennsylvania): ‘Number adaptation: a critical look’

  4 May, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Hasok Chang (University of Cambridge): Realism for Realistic People

  2 February, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• John D. Norton (Pitt): “The Material Theory of Induction”

  30 June 2022, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm at LAK 2.06

• Edouard Machery (Pittsburgh): “Beyond incentives”

  17 March 2022, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at

• CANCELLED – Uljana Feest (Hanover): “Replication, Robustness Analysis, and Conceptual Development in Psychology”

  2 December 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Claudio Tennie (Tübingen): “Apes do not culturally evolve their know-how”

  18 November 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Mike Dacey (Bates): “Gathering Evidence About Animal Minds”

  4 November 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Rachell Powell (Boston): “Social Norms and Superorganisms: A Case for Deep Convergence”

  15 June 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Sean A. Valles (Michigan State): “Housing security’s place in a ‘Culture of Health’: Lessons from the pandemic housing crises in the US and England”

  8 June 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Susana Monsó (Messerli Research Institute, Vienna): “Schrödinger’s possum: How animals experience and understand death”

  25 May 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Richard Moore (Warwick): “Learning (to learn) from others”

  30 March 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Cordelia Fine (Melbourne): “Nothing to see here: Male dominance and androcentrism in academic finance”

  16 February 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• David Stainforth (LSE): “Characteristics that Frame the Study of Climate Change”

  19 January 2021, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Kristin Andrews (York, Toronto): “Can Animals Be Moral?”

  7 December 2020, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Jacob Stegenga (Cambridge): “Sex Differences in Sexual Desire”

  17 November 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Carlos Gray Santana (Utah): “Landfills deserve love too: novel ecosystem as a normative category”

  3 November 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• Colin Allen (Pitt): “Temporal Binding as a Marker of Causal Cognition in Non Human Animals”

  20 October 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• ONLINE: Kevin Zollman (Carnegie Mellon): “Scientific diversity and the theoretical virtues”

  26 May 2020, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• ONLINE: Barbara Webb (Edinburgh): “Representations and the insect brain”

  19 May 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at Online via Zoom

• CANCELLED: Deborah Mayo (Virginia Tech): “The Statistics Wars and Their Casualties”

  24 March 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Samir Okasha (Bristol): “On the very idea of biological individuality”

  25 February 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Marta Halina (Cambridge): “Creative problem solving in AI”

  21 January 2020, 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm at LAK 2.06

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

  3 December 2019, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm at LAK 2.06

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

  26 November 2019, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Stephen John (Cambridge HPS): “Epistemic risk paternalism”

  15 October 2019, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Deborah Mayo (Virginia Tech): “Severe Testing: A Conjecture Passes a Severe Test Only if a Refutation Would Probably Have Occurred if it’s False”

  3 June 2019, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Marius Backmann (Konstanz): “Necessarily the Old Riddle – Necessary Connections, Laws of Nature, and the Problem of Induction”

  20 May 2019, 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm at LAK 2.06

• Cecilia Heyes (Oxford): “Cognitive Gadgets”

  14 May 2019, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm at LAK 2.06