Understanding Perspectivism
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Realism for Realistic People
Realism for Realistic People Author(s): Hasok Chang Source: Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 9, No. 1 (2018) 31-34. Published by: The University of Toronto DOI: 10.4245/sponge.v9i1.27002 EDITORIALOFFICES Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Room 316 Victoria College, 91 Charles Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1K7 [email protected] Published online at jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/SpontaneousGenerations ISSN 1913 0465 Founded in 2006, Spontaneous Generations is an online academic journal published by graduate students at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. There is no subscription or membership fee. Spontaneous Generations provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Focused Discussion Invited Paper Realism for Realistic People* Hasok Chang† Why should anyone care about the seemingly interminable philosophical debate concerning scientific realism? Shouldn’t we simply let go of it,in the spirit of Arthur Fine’s “natural ontological attitude” (NOA) (Fine 1986, chs. 7-8)? To a large extent I follow Fine, especially in relation to the endless arguments surrounding realist attempts to show that the impossible is somehow possible, that empirical science can really attain assured knowledge about what goes beyond experience. It is time to face the fact that we cannot know whether we have got the objective Truth about the World (even if such a formulation is meaningful). Realists go astray by persisting in trying to find a way around this fact, as do anti-realists in engaging with that obsession. -
Anjan Chakravartty SCIENCE, METAPHYSICS, and the PHILOSOPHY of SCIENCE June 4 14:00 – 14:30 Macleod 214
Anjan Chakravartty SCIENCE, METAPHYSICS, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE June 4 14:00 – 14:30 MacLeod 214 Subsequent to the transition from the era of natural philosophy to what we now recognize as the era of the modern sciences, the latter have often been described as independent of the major philosophical preoccupations that previously informed theorizing about the natural world. The extent to which this is a naïve description is a matter of debate, and in particular, views of the relationship between the modern sciences and metaphysics have varied enormously. Logical positivism spawned a distaste for metaphysics within the philosophy of science which lasts to this day, but in recent years, a renaissance in analytic metaphysics has been embraced by a growing number of philosophers of science. Those moved by distaste commonly subscribe either to a minimalist Humean metaphysic, or to a quietism about metaphysical questions generally, and often maintain that such stances are operative in scientific practice itself. Those moved by attraction contend that metaphysical investigations into the natures of things like properties, causation, laws, and modality, are required in order to interpret descriptions of the world furnished by our best scientific theories, and often suggest that metaphysical commitments with respect to issues such as these likely play a significant role in scientific theorizing itself. In this paper, I will attempt to enumerate the philosophical presuppositions separating these approaches to scientific knowledge, and consider some prospects for their resolution. Andrea Charise Location, location, location: Cultural technologies of brain mapping in Victorian science and modern neuroimaging June 3, 15:45-16:15 MacLeod 254 In this paper, I discuss the conceptual linkages between recent trends in neuroimaging technologies of “brain mapping” and the enormously popular nineteenth-century pseudoscientific practice of phrenology. -
Understanding Perspectivism
This impressive collection is essential reading for appreciating the inevi- table contextualities of scientific knowledge. It explores how notions of “perspective” can illuminate the epistemic upshot of the sciences and how they are situated in their history, practices, representations, and sometimes competing aims, provocatively advancing debates about realism, pragma- tism, explanation, and modeling in the process, all through a wealth of cases from physics, biology, neuroscience, and medical science . —Anjan Chakravartty, University of Miami An excellent collection of essays on a topic rapidly establishing itself as an important interpretive programme in philosophy of science. One of the volume’s many merits consists in showing the diversity and versatil- ity of perspectivism while illustrating common features among its differ- ent varieties. The reader is thus provided an enormously rich foundation for evaluating the role of perspectivism in understanding science and its practices . —Margaret Morrison, University of Toronto Perspectivism is a fruitful metaphor for imagining alternatives to tradi- tional realism in philosophy of science. Massimi and McCoy have gath- ered ten essays which show how perspectivism is illuminating in areas such as molecular biology and measurement theory, and also explore the relationships between perspectivism and other recent accounts including pragmatism, structural realism, pluralism, and scientific modelling. There is an excellent balance of established and emerging scholars in the field. This volume is a superb, cutting-edge text to use in an advanced graduate seminar . —Miriam Solomon, Temple University Understanding Perspectivism This edited collection is the first of its kind to explore the view called perspectivism in the philosophy of science. The book brings together an array of essays that reflect on the methodological promises and scientific challenges of perspectivism in a variety of fields such as physics, biology, cognitive neuroscience, and cancer research, just for a few examples. -
2005 Bulletin
Volume 13 U N I V E R S I T Y OF P I T T S B U R G H B U L AUGUSTL E T 2005I N NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR 22. It was a great pleasure for Rutgers University) and I joined me to be involved in both. forces to organize a conference October 1-3 celebrating the During my eight years as Cen- contributions of our dear friend ter Director I have had the great Allan Gotthelf to the under- pleasure of working with standing of the philosophy and Gereon Wolters of Konstanz science of classical Greece. The and Peter Machamer of Pitts- program and pictures of the burgh (and their committees) event can be found on the on four Pittsburgh-Konstanz Center's web site among the Colloquia. May 26-30, 2005 Archived Events. Allan is cur- was our seventh, held in rently Visiting Professor of His- BULLETINBULLETIN Konstanz, as is fitting, given tory and Philosophy of Science that one of the architects of this thanks to a fellowship provided Table of Contents warm, multi-faceted coop- by the Anthem Foundation for erative venture, Jürgen the Study of Objectivism. 3 Visiting Fellows 2004-05 Jim Lennox Mittelstrass, retires this year. 6 In Memoriam: Ernst Mayr For the first time the event was October 12-14 we once again 7 Anjan Chakravartty he completion of my staged in the historic heart of co-sponsored the Nagel Lec- second (and final!) Konstanz, in the city's Cultural tures, organized every two years 8 In Memoriam: Eduardo H. -
Corey Nathaniel Dethier Coreydethier.Com [email protected]
Corey Nathaniel Dethier coreydethier.com [email protected] Areas of interest AoS Philosophy of Science (particularly Climate Science), Epistemology AoC Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Statistics, Environmental Ethics Positions held 2021- Postdoctoral Fellow, Leibniz Universit¨atHannover F 2020 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Notre Dame Education 2020 Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Notre Dame | M.A. History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame Dissertation Multiple Models, Robustness, and the Epistemology of Climate Sci- ence Committee Anjan Chakravartty (co-director), Curtis Franks (co-director), Don Howard, Wendy Parker (external), Hannah Rubin 2015 M.A. Philosophy, Tufts University 2012 B.A. with High Honors, College of Social Studies, Wesleyan University Publications in press \The Cooperative Origins of Epistemic Normativity?" Erkenntnis. | \Climate Models and the Irrelevance of Chaos." Philosophy of Science. | \How to Do Things with Theory: The Instrumental Role of Auxiliary Hypothe- ses in Testing." Erkenntnis. 2021 \Forces in a True and Physical Sense: From Mathematical Models to Meta- physical Conclusions." Synthese 198.2: 1109{22. 2018 \William Whewell's Semantic Account of Induction." HOPOS 8.1: 141-56. Papers in preparation (under review; drafts available on request) | On accuracy-dominance arguments for probabilism. | On agreement in modeling and experimental contexts. | On interpreting the probabilities found in IPCC reports. | On the calibration of climate models. | On science and the norm of assertion. 1 | On supposition and statistics. | On uncertainty and climate model ensembles. | On uncertainty about initial conditions and uncertainty about laws. | On the use of statistics in climate modeling. | On the value of agreement in climate modeling. Recent Presentations 2021 [delayed] \Climate Models and the Irrelevance of Chaos," 27th Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. -
CLMPS 2011 Program
CLMPS 2011 Program Division of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science Congress Secretariat (Eds.) Program CLMPS 2011 General theme Logic and Science Facing New Technologies 14th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science Nancy, July 19–26, 2011 (France) Contents Welcome Address1 Committees3 Executive Commitee of DLMPS.......................3 General Program Committee.........................3 Organizing Committee.............................5 Official Program8 Typographical Note...............................9 Overview...................................... 11 List of Sections.............................. 13 Plenary Lectures and Special Sessions.................... 15 IUHPS – Joint Commission Symposium ................. 19 Program by Day 21 Tuesday 19.................................... 23 Wednesday 20................................... 24 Thursday 21.................................... 26 Friday 22...................................... 31 Saturday 23.................................... 37 Monday 25..................................... 42 Tuesday 26.................................... 47 Program by Sections (including Chairs) 51 A1. Mathematical Logic............................ 53 A2. Philosophical Logic............................. 55 A3. Logic and Computation.......................... 61 B1. Methodology and Scientific Reasoning................. 63 B2. Ethical Issues in the Philosophy of Science............... 70 B3. Historical Aspects in the -
Hasok Chang Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo 1 Operational Coherence as the Source of Truth1 (version for publication, 14 February 2017) Hasok Chang Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge Abstract In this paper I seek to defend an epistemology that does not confine itself to the knowledge of propositions. The first section motivates this move, especially from the standpoint of the philosophy of science. The second section presents the notion of operational coherence as the key to understanding how knowledge resides in activities. The third section presents a proposal for making sense of truth on the basis of operational coherence. The final section briefly re- considers the relation between knowledge-as-ability and knowledge-as- information. 1. Knowledge beyond propositions The overall direction of this paper is to move beyond the propositional conception of knowledge. What I mean by that phrase is the widespread notion that knowledge (or at least the kind of knowledge that deserves the attention of epistemologists) consists in possessing the right sort of belief in the right sort of propositions.2 Without denying the importance of propositional knowledge, I want to pay attention to other aspects of what we commonly call knowledge, which cannot comfortably be fitted into a propositional framework. I will not pretend that the move I am making is a novel one, especially in this journal. 1 I would like to thank various members of the audience at the Aristotelian Society meeting of 9 January 2017 for helpful objections and suggestions, as well as encouragement. -
Pragmatic Realism†
Revista de Humanidades de Valparaíso Año 4 / 2016 / 2do semestre / N° 8 Págs. 107 - 122 ISSN 0719-4234 / eISSN 0719-4242 Pragmatic Realism† Hasok Chang* Abstract In this paper I seek to articulate and develop Roberto Torretti’s advocacy of pragmatic realism. At the core of Torrietti’s view is a rejection of the notion that the truth of scientific theories consists in their correspondence to the world. I propose to understand correspondence in that sense as a metaphorical notion. I articulate a notion of pragmatist coherence, on the basis of which I make new coherence theories of truth and reality. Then it becomes possible to say that pragmatic realism consists in the pursuit of true knowledge of reality, in a way that is also consonant with Torretti’s pluralism. Keywords: pragmatism, realism, pluralism, coherence, truth, reality Realismo Pragmático Resumen En este trabajo intento articular y desarrollar la defensa que Roberto Torretti hace del realismo pragmático. En el núcleo de la visión de Torretti existe un rechazo a la idea de que la verdad de las teorías científicas consista en su correspondencia con el mundo. Propongo entonces entender la correspondencia como una noción metafórica. Articularé una noción de coherencia pragmática sobre la cual establezco una nueva teoría de la coherencia entre verdad y realidad. __________________En consecuencia, resultará posible afirmar que el realismo pragmático † Recibido: octubre 2016. This paper is partly based on a presentation entitled “Pragmatist Coherence as the Source of Truth and Reality,” given at the sixth biennial conference of the Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) on 17 June 2016 at Rowan University. -
Curriculum Vitae
1 GRANT FISHER Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 34141 Republic of Korea Tel: +82-42-350-4855 Mobile: +82-(0)10-2800-4303 Email: [email protected] Research interests. Philosophy of science, ethics and governance of emerging technologies, history and philosophy of chemistry. Education. October 1999- University of Leeds Ph.D. in Philosophy September 2003 Specialization: Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Chemistry Supervisor: Steven French October 1998- University of Leeds M.A. in History and Philosophy of Science September 1999 Pass with Distinction. September 1995- University College London B.Sc. (Honours) in History and Philosophy of Science, June 1998 University College London, 1998. Class I (First Class Honours). Academic appointments. August 2013-present Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy. August 2010-August 2013 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Science; Adjunct Professor, Graduate School of Science and Technology Policy. August 2008-August 2010 Boğaziçi University Lecturer in Humanities (fixed term) June 2005-July 2008 University College London Research Fellow in Philosophy of Science, Department of Science & Technology Studies. Worked on the research project “Evidence in the Natural Sciences” (Project Leader: Hasok Chang) as part of the UCL Research Programme: “Evidence, Inference and Enquiry: Towards an Integrated Science of Evidence”. (Principle Investigator: Philip Dawid). September 2004-May 2005 University of Leeds Temporary Lecturer in Philosophy of Science, Department of 2 Philosophy. October 2003-June 2004 Durham University Temporary Lecturer in History of Science, Department of Philosophy. -
Water: the Long Road from Aristotelian Element to H2O Hasok Chang•
III CONFERÊNCIAS ALLEN DEBUS CIRCUMSCRIBERE 12 (2012): 1-15 Water: The long road from Aristotelian element to H2O Hasok Chang• Introduction In today’s science-based civilization, people tend to accept without question the most basic things that science tells us, except on certain controversial subjects such as evolution. This is the case even for people who do not know much science or like it very much. For example, anyone with even the slightest acquaintance with modern science knows and accepts that water is H2O. Yet it was a very difficult thing for scientists to learn. That is the subject of my recently published book, Is Water H2O? Evidence, Realism and Pluralism (Dordrecht: Springer, 2012). If we take a closer look at the basic items of scientific knowledge that we take so much for granted, almost always we find that they were achieved only with great difficulty, and only after some very challenging questions were resolved, or set aside without being resolved. These reflections bring us to the most basic question of epistemology: how do we know anything? More specifically, how can we be sure about what scientific theories tell us about unobservable entities? How can such theories be supported by evidence? These questions are at the core of the philosophical debates concerning scientific realism. Many general and abstract answers have been given to the realism question (and to similar questions in the philosophy of science), but I often do not find them convincing because they are not based on sufficient knowledge of how the acquisition and evaluation of scientific knowledge work out in practice. -
REVIEW ANJAN CHAKRAVARTTY a Metaphysics for Scientific Realism
Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 62 (2011), 443–451 REVIEW ANJAN CHAKRAVARTTY A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism: Knowing the Unobservable Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. pp. xvii + 251, £47.00 (hardback) ISBN-10: 0521130093 Downloaded from ISBN-13: 978-0521130097 Sungho Choi http://bjps.oxfordjournals.org/ Philosophy Dept., Kyung Hee University Seoul, Republic of Korea [email protected] Scientific realism has been at the heart of contemporary philosophical discus- sions regarding the intellectual enterprises collectively called ‘science’. Very at University of Notre Dame on August 24, 2016 approximately, it is the view that we are entitled to accept our best scientific theories at face value, as providing a literally true description of reality, ob- servable or not. Though this view may seem commonsensical at first glance, it has invited numerous powerful criticisms from skeptics with the result that there is a growing agreement among philosophers that it now requires con- siderable refinements and careful metaphysical backing. The thought is that scientific realism must be considerably refined such that what is susceptible to realist commitment is carefully circumscribed; and, further, that it is in need of metaphysical support that involves suitable clarifications of metaphysical no- tions like causation, properties, laws of nature, kinds, and so on, which sci- entific realists often make recourse to in their defense. This is a tremendous task, which is squarely tackled by Anjan Chakravartty’s A Metaphysics for Scientific Realism. The book, whose goal is to supply the requisite metaphysical machinery for scientific realists and thereby tell us how to be a sophisticated scientific realist, divides into three carefully coordinated parts. -