< Colloquia

Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science

2002–2003

43th Annual Program

September 23, 2002
Perspectives in Medical Ethics
Moderator: Peter Schwartz, Boston University
Gary Belkin, Harvard University
Historical Ethics—A New Approach for Bioethics?
Carl Elliott, University of Minnesota
Bad Philosophers and Slum Landlords

George Annas, Boston University
Medical Ethics and Human Rights:
Odd Couple Meant for Each Other?
Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University
Autonomy Gone Mad
Daniel Callahan, The Hastings Center
The Common Good and Private Goods:
Can They Be Reconciled?

September 30, 2002
Hume’s Skeptical Science
Moderator: Knud Haakonsen, Boston University
Stefan Kalt, Boston University
Experience, Common Opinion, and Science in Hume's Science of Man
Robert McCarthy, Key School
A Skeptical Science?
Nicholas Capaldi, Loyola University New Orleans
The Relation of Science and Philosophy in Hume’s Epistemology
Don Garrett, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Skepticism and Naturalism in Hume’s Science of Man
(Download paper in pdf format)

October 3, 2002
The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the
World’s Most Famous Scientist
Moderator: Robert S. Cohen, Boston University
Fred Jerome, Syracuse University
Author of The Einstein File (click here for book information from amazon.com)
Commentator: John Stachel, Boston University

October 15, 2002
Seventy-Five Years of Complementarity
Moderator: John Stachel, Boston University
Peter Bokulich, Boston University
Black Holes, Complementarity, and Quantum Gravity
Hans Halvorson, Princeton University
Complementarity in Quantum Field Theory
Steve Weinstein, Dartmouth College
Classical Concepts in Contemporary Quantum Theory

October 18–19, 2002
Phenomenology and Time:
On the Occasion of the Publication of Husserl’s Bernau Manuscripts
Moderator: James Dodd, New School University
Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University
Welcoming Remarks
Richard Cobb-Stevens, Boston College
Intuition and Time in Husserl and Descartes
Ronald Bruzina, University of Kentucky
How Does Time Make All the Difference in the World?—
The Bernau Manuscripts and the Analysis of Urzeitigung

John Brough, Georgetown University
The Puzzle of Time Consciousness as Both One and Many
Dan Zahavi, Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen
Time, Consciousness, and the Threat of Infinite Regress

Moderator: Nicolas DeWarren, Wellesley College
Rudolf Bernet, Husserl Archief de Leuven
Temporality and Individuation
Anthony Steinbock, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Affection, Individuation, Temporality
All Participants
Roundtable Discussion

November 4, 2002
Does Biomedicine Entail the Successful Reduction of Pathology to Biology?
Moderator: Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University
Peter Keating, Université du Québec à Montréal

November 15, 2002
Conceptual Analysis and Method in Philosophy of Biology
Moderator: Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University
Peter Schwartz, Boston University
Conceptual Analysis in the Function Debate and Beyond
Elisabeth Lloyd, Indiana University
Exaptation and Function
Alex Rosenberg, Duke University
Fitness, Probability, and the Principles of Natural Selection
Philip Kitcher, Columbia University
Carnap and the Caterpillar

December 2, 2002
The Health of Nations:
How Social Inequalities Determine Health Inequalities
Moderator: Peter Schwartz, Boston University
Bruce Kennedy, Harvard School of Public Health

January 27, 2003
Have Philosophers Forfeited the Concept of Information?
Moderator: Judson Webb, Boston University
Jaakko Hinikka, Boston University

February 3, 2003
The Tempo and Mode of Medical Evolution: The Treatment of Pneumonia with Anti-serum (1892–1942) and the Nature of the Antibiotic “Revolution”
Moderator: Susan Lanzoni, Boston University
Scott Podolsky, Harvard University

February 10, 2003
The Robert S. Cohen Forum: Contemporary Issues in Science Studies
Science and Human Values, Revisited—
A Boston University Symposium in Honor of Leroy Rouner
Moderator: Robert C. Neville, School of Theology
Wesley J. Wildman, School of Theology
Competing Virtues: Literate Humanism, Scientific Curiosity, and Social Values
Jon H. Roberts, Department of History
God, Humanity, and the Emergence of the “New Psychology” in America

Aaron Garrett , Department of Philosophy, and David Eckel, Department of Religion
Scepticism: East and West
Alisa Bokulich, Department of Philosophy
Do Theoretical Values Change?
Kuhn and Longino Revisited
Robert S. Cohen, Emeritus, Department of Philosophy and Department of Physics
The Paradox of Religion

March 6, 2003
Perspectives on Quantum Gravity:
A Tribute to John Stachel
Moderator: Robert S. Cohen, Boston University
John Stachel, Boston University
A Brief History of Spacetime
Tian Yu Cao, Boston University
Philosophical Issues in Attempts at a Quantum Theory of Gravity
Giovanni Amelino-Camelia, University of Rome La Sapienza
Measurability Analysis and the Search for Observable Consequences
in Quantum Gravity

Abhay Ashtakar, Pennsylvania State University
Physical Ramifications of Quantum Geometry
Brian Greene, Columbia University
Spacetime in String Theory
Roger Penrose, University of Oxford
Why Gravity Must Change the Rules of Quantum Mechanics

March 24, 2003
From Practice to Engagement:
Science Studies Addresses Heterogeneous Complexity
Moderator: Alisa Bokulich, Boston University
James Marcum, Baylor University
Metaphysical Commitments and Scientific Practice:
Reductionism and Holism in Cancer Research
Sharon Traweek, University of California, Los Angeles
To Be Announced

Peter Taylor, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Reconstructing Unruly Ecological Complexities
Michael Lynch, Cornell University
Hybrid Controversies: DNA Profiling, Fingerprinting, and
the Questionable Scientific Status of Forensic Practice
Andrew Pickering, University of Illinois
Reflections on Studying Practice