Visiting Speaker Series

The Distinguished Speaker Series invites distinguished scholars to present their work in the history and philosophy of science. The Allan Franklin New Ideas Speaker Series invites scholars to present their new and exciting work in the history and philosophy of science. It is named in honor of Allan Franklin, for his decades of unparalleled contributions to the history and philosophy of science. Dr. Franklin is best known for his work on the methods of physics.

Upcoming Schedule for AY 25/26:

  • Friday, February 6th, 3:30pm: Distinguished Speaker, Helen Longino (Stanford), "Why Center Interaction?"
    • Abstract: This talk is about the concept of interaction.  Our scientific ontologies are for the most part constituted of objects and their properties. I will propose that interaction should play as fundamental a role in scientific analysis and investigation as individuals and their states and properties do.  I will argue that interactions satisfy criteria for reality proposed by philosophers of science as well as individual entities do and offer examples from the sciences to demonstrate their importance to scientific investigation.  I will conclude by suggesting the questions philosophers can address about interaction that would make the concept more salient and available for research purposes. This talk is, then, a plea for ontological pluralism.
  • Wednesday, February 25th, 4:00pm: New Ideas Speaker, Adam Koberinski (Rotman Institute), "Transcendental conditions for the successful use of effective field theories"
    • Abstract: Effective field theories (EFTs) form the basis of our most successful theories of matter, both in particle physics and in condensed matter physics. But the structure of EFTs poses a challenge to many standard philosophical accounts of theory structure and content. In particular, the inability to cast EFTs in terms of exact mathematical objects defined at all scales suggests that philosophical accounts of theory interpretation ought to be modified to deal with approximate, scale-relative ontologies. In this talk, I take some preliminary steps toward an alternative approach to theory interpretation, suitable to EFTs as well as other mathematized theories. Starting from the assumption that EFTs currently allow us to successfully learn about the world, I explicate some features the world must have for that to be true.
  • Friday, February 27th, 3:30pm: New Ideas Speaker, Kathleen Creel (Northeastern), TBA
  • March 6th, 3:30pm: Distinguished Speaker, Craig Callender (UC, San Diego), TBA