Institute of Philosophy, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Dates: 29th and 30th of March, 2019.
Organizer: The MTA BTK Lendület Morals and Science Research Group
Ian Hacking’s thought has contributed highly original insights to the philosophical landscape of the late 20th and early 21st century. His interests in the history and philosophy of mathematics and the natural sciences in general (The Logic of Statistical Inference, Representing and Intervening, Why is There Philosophy of Mathematics at All?); in the concept of probability in particular (The Emergence of Probability, The Taming of Chance); and in the metaphysical and social scientific implications of human (or interactive) kinds (Rewriting the Soul, Mad Travelers, The Social Construction of What?) all provide significant additions to the canon of analytic philosophy.
This conference aims to engage all aspects of Ian Hacking’s philosophy, bringing together scholars working in the fields touched upon by Hacking’s body of work in the philosophy of logic, the history and philosophy of science, the philosophy of language and the philosophy of the social sciences. Contributions from all areas of philosophy and scientific thought are welcome, aiming to address the questions including, but not limited to the following:
General assessments:
- How does Hacking’s philosophy relate to its influences in both the analytic and the continental traditions? How did it influence philosophy in the 21st century?
- What connections are there between the main areas of interest in Hacking’s philosophical body of work?
Specific topics:
- What role does the concept of probability play in scientific reasoning, and how did the concept emerge to fulfill that role?
- What is the relation of language to philosophical thought in the early 21st century?
- How does experimentation influence theory choice (and vice versa) in scientific thinking?
- What are the peculiar characteristics of human (or interactive) kinds contrasted with natural kinds?
Abstracts of about 500 words should be sent to Dr. Akos Sivado, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Speakers include:
Rachel Cooper (Lancaster University)
Janette Dinishak (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Axel Gelfert (Technical University of Berlin)
Mark Risjord (Emory University)
Paul A. Roth (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Luca Sciortino (University of Leeds)
Jonathan Tsou (Iowa State University)
The deadline for submissions is 1st December 2018.