Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science

The Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science is an annual event focusing on a critical area of history and philosophy of science. Special invitations are extended to scholars in the Colorado area, but national and international participants are also welcome. Recent conference topics include Values in Science, Microbiology, Evolutionary Theory and Experiment.

The 25th Boulder Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science
University of Colorado at Boulder
October 9-11, 2009

Social Science

Schedule

Friday, October 9, 2009
Keynote Talk in Duane Physics Building, Room G1B30
6:00 – 7:00, Keynote Speaker

• Alison Wylie, University of Washington, “Legacies of Collaboration: Transformative Criticism in Archaeology”

7:00 – 8:00, Reception, Gamow Tower (11th Floor), Duane Physics

Saturday, October 10, 2009
All Talks in Duane Physics Building, Room G125
9:00-10:30, Panel I, Explanation

• Robert Northcott, University of Missouri-St. Louis, “Weighted Explanations in Social Science”
• Kareem Khalifa, Middlebury College, “Coherence Precedes Causation: Lessons from the History of Sociological Explanations”

10:30 – 11:00, Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:30, Panel II, Values and Agency

• Anna Alexandrova, University of Missouri-St. Louis, “Values and the Science of Wellbeing: How Should they Mix?”
• Paul Sheldon Davies, College of William and Mary, “Skepticism Regarding Human Agency: Philosophical Methods and the Fruits of Psychology and Neuroscience”

12:30 – 2:00, Lunch

2:00-4:30, Panel III, History of the Human Sciences

• Joydeep Sen, University of Warwick/Science Museum of London, “Historical or Sociological Approaches to Science?  Aspects of Astronomy in India, c. 1815-c. 1875”
• Sebastian Gil-Riano, University of Toronto, “The Many Lives of Alfred Metraux: An Anthropologist at UNESCO, 1945 – 1963”
• Dana Tulodziecki, University of Missouri-Kansas City, “Reasoning About Cholera: The Inferential Practices of John Snow”

4:30 – 4:45, Coffee Break

4:45 – 5:45, Keynote Speaker

• Christopher Green, York University, “Psychology’s Ongoing Love Affair with Evolutionary Theory”

Sunday, October 11, 2009
All Talks in Duane Physics Building, Room G125
9:00 – 10:30, Panel IV, Kinds and Properties

• Joseph Long, Florida State University, “Non-artificial Kinds”
• Ken Aizawa, Centenary College, “Do Scientists Block Multiple Realization by Sub-typing Properties?”

10:30 – 10:45, Coffee Break

10:45 – 12:15, Panel V, History of Philosophy of Science

• Paul L. Franco, University of Pennsylvania, “Hans Reichenbach’s Transcendental Method and the Constituative A Priori”
• Andre Ariew, University of Missouri-Columbia, “The Blind Watchmaker vs. the Invisible Hand: Two Models of Natural Selection”

Questions or comments may be directed to one of the two conference organizers: John P. Jackson (Department of Communication, john.p.jackson@colorado.edu), Robert Rupert (Department of Philosophy, rupertr@colorado.edu) or the program assistant (rchps@colorado.com).

The Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science at CU, Boulder is cosponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Communication, Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Geological Sciences, History, Philosophy, Mathematics, Physics and the University Museum