Elisabeth Lloyd: Robustness as a Confirmatory Virtue
ABSTRACT Both climate scientists and philosophers have been working hard to understand how the huge multidimensional global climate models can be tested and confirmed. The convergence of multiple climate models on a single outcome or result has provided a key feature in these discussions. Philosophers of science tend to think that such convergence, or “robustness,” [...]
Elisabeth Lloyd: The Orgasm Wars
ABSTRACT There has been a fierce battle occurring among people who explain the evolution of human female orgasm, about its evolutionary origins and nature. The core issue is that the female orgasm presents an evolutionary puzzle. Unlike the male orgasm, female orgasm is not associated with any increase in fertility or reproductive success. Several types [...]
Pierre Jacob: What is So Special About Human Social Cognition?
ABSTRACT I will argue for a three-tiered answer to the question. (1) Only humans are able to track the contents of others’ false beliefs. (2) Only humans are able to engage in ostensive cooperative communicative actions. Since I assume that not all, but much, of the answer to the question is likely to come from [...]
Helen Longino: Perspectives and Pluralities
Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT This lecture will explore how the same phenomenon assumes different forms from different research perspectives and consequences of this for our understanding of scientific knowledge. SPEAKER PROFILE Helen Longino’s teaching and research interests are in philosophy of science, social epistemology, and feminist philosophy. She is the author of The Fate of Knowledge (Princeton University [...]
Helen Longino: Individuals or Populations: How Scale Matters
Dr. David S.H. Chu International Student Centre International and Graduate Affairs Building, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaThis lecture will explore the difference between studying human behavior as an individual characteristic versus studying it as a group property. SPEAKER PROFILE Helen Longino’s teaching and research interests are in philosophy of science, social epistemology, and feminist philosophy. She is the author of The Fate of Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 2002), and many articles [...]
Peter Anstey: Locke on Measurement
ABSTRACT This Rotman Lecture concerns John Locke’s practical and theoretical interest in measurement. Locke’s fascination with the measurement of weight, distance, time and monetary value is evident throughout his notebooks, journal and correspondence. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that it features in his philosophical reflections as early as Drafts A and B of the Essay [...]
Algorithms and Complexity in Mathematics, Epistemology and Science
ACMES (Algorithms and Complexity in Mathematics, Epistemology and Science) is a multidisciplinary conference that focuses on a combination of the science of reliability and uncertainty quantification with conceptual and foundational issues concerning reliability in the application of scientific theories to real phenomena. The conference integrates longer talks from six leading computational scientists and philosophers of [...]
2015 PhilMiLCog Graduate Student Conference
PhilMiLCog is a three-day graduate conference with a broad and interdisciplinary scope. The conference, now in its 13th 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 [...]
2015 Philosophy of Logic Math and Physics Graduate Student Conference
The fifteenth annual Philosophy of Logic, Math and Physics (LMP) Graduate Student Conference will take place June 4-5, 2015 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. [...]
Gravity and Geometry: Centenary Perspectives on General Relativity
2015 Annual Philosophy of Physics Conference Participants will present physical, philosophical, and historical reflections on Einstein’s theory of gravity and space-time geometry, its development over the past century, and its future prospects. The conference will include speakers: Kaća Bradonjić (Wellesley College) Carla Cederbaum (University of Tuebingen) Michael Friedman (Stanford University) Marco Giovanelli (Einstein Papers Project) [...]
Peter Singer: The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically
Great Hall - Somerville House Somerville House, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Effective altruism is built upon the simple but profound idea that living a fully ethical life involves doing the "most good you can do." Such a life requires an unsentimental view of charitable giving: to be a worthy recipient of our support, an organization must be able to demonstrate that it will do more [...]
Peter Singer: Animal Liberation, Forty Years On
Great Hall - Somerville House Somerville House, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Peter Singer's Animal Liberation, often credited with starting the modern animal rights movement, was first published in September 1975. In this lecture, the author assesses how well the argument has stood up over that period, and what progress has been made towards the changes in our treatment of animals that the book advocates. SPEAKER [...]
Katarzyna de Lazai-Radek and Peter Singer: Author-Meets-Critics: The Point of View of The Universe
Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, CanadaEVENT DESCRIPTION "The Point of View of the Universe: Sidgwick and Contemporary Ethics" is devoted to interpreting and defending in a contemporary setting a number of the doctrines found in Henry Sidgwick’s "The Methods of Ethics". It therefore discusses a wide number of moral problems of interest to contemporary moral philosophers, including the conflict between [...]
David Chalmers: Spatial Experience and Virtual Reality
Room 100 - Physics and Astronomy Building Physics and Astronomy Building, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Do virtual reality devices such as the Oculus Rift produce the illusion of an external reality? Or do they produce non-illusory experiences of a virtual reality? I address this question by starting with an analogous question about mirrors. When one looks in a mirror, does one undergo the illusion that there is someone on [...]
Chris Smeenk: Einstein’s Path to a New Theory
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT In November 1915, Einstein published a new theory of gravity. This lecture recounts the “rough and winding road” Einstein took in developing his theory, which ended with a dramatic race to the finish. Einstein’s approach was philosophical, partially guided by conceptual puzzles regarding space and motion. We will consider recent critical assessments of Einstein’s [...]
Hugo Critchley: Interoception, Emotion and Self: How the Heart Gates Feelings and Perceptions
Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Information concerning the internal state of the body is arguably the basis for emotional feelings and may serve as the primary reference for the development of self-representation underpinning many aspects of consciousness. The combination of functional and structural neuroimaging, autonomic psychophysiology and patient studies has provided valuable insight into the brain mechanisms though which [...]
Stathis Psillos: Engaging Philosophy: Einstein on the Method of Science
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT 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 contemplation of the theoretical foundations” of science. In this talk I will aim to critically examine Einstein’s views on the method of science [...]
Doreen Fraser: Einstein, God, Dice, and Quantum Mechanics
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT 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, the other great theoretical advance in twentieth century physics. Einstein’s famous response to quantum mechanics was that “God does not play dice.” [...]
Wayne Myrvold: Einstein and the Atom
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT 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 of Einstein's early papers was an analysis of Brownian motion, the ceaseless dance of tiny particles, such as pollen grains, [...]
Chris Smeenk: Einstein’s Universe (Classes Without Quizzes)
Stevenson & Hunt Room A - Central Library 251 Dundas St, London, Ontario, CanadaThis lecture is part of the free public lecture series, Classes Without Quizzes, co-sponsored by Western Alumni and the London Public Library. ABSTRACT Einstein developed his theory of general relativity 100 years ago. Join philosophy professor Chris Smeenk for an exploration of Einstein’s distinctively philosophical approach to physics, and how his ideas have shaped our [...]