< Colloquia

Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science

2009–2010

50th Annual Program

2009 DARWIN CELEBRATION
Throughout calendar year 2009, the Boston Colloquium’s entire program is devoted to
examining and celebrating the life, work, and influence of Charles Darwin (1809–1882).
This year marks the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and the sesquicentennial of the
publication of The Origin of Species. Not only did Darwin stimulate the transformation
of a largely descriptive “natural history” tradition into the scientific field we now
call biology, but his theory has also deeply influenced all the human sciences. Further,
Darwinism affects the way Western societies conceive of themselves and their citizens.
In short, Darwinian evolution is more than a science; it has become integral to our
metaphysics.

DARWIN AND METAPHYSICS
Monday, October 19, 2009, 2–5 p.m.
The Castle, 225 Bay State Road
Moderator: David Liebesman, Boston University
Babette Babich, Fordham University
Nietzsche and Darwin
Roger Smith, Lancaster Univeristy
Evolution, Human Agency, and the Late Victorians
Patricia Kitcher, Columbia University
Freud, Darwin, and Diachronic Scientific Explanation


THEORIES OF EVOLUTION TODAY AND TOMORROW
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Castle, 225 Bay State Road
Moderator: Alfred Tauber, Boston University
Morning Session: 10 a.m.–Noon
Scott Gilbert, Swarthmore College
The Arrival of the Fittest: Developmental Sources of Variation Evolutionary Theory in the Molecular Age
Eva Jablonka, Tel Aviv University
Soft Inheritance in the 21st Century

Afternoon Session: 2–5 p.m.
Patricia Foster, Indiana University
Evolution Under Stress: Mechanisms of Adaptive Mutation in Escherichia Coli
David Depew, The University of Iowa
The Future of Darwinism
Lynn Margulis, University of Massachusetts
What, If Anything, Is “Random” About the Evolutionary History of Life?

EVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS IN MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Friday, November 20, 2009, 1–5 p.m.
The Castle, 225 Bay State Road
Moderator: Robert Cohen, Boston University
Randolph Nesse, University of Michigan
Why Are Old Evolutionary Concepts Still New in Medicine?
Gerald Keusch, Boston University
Darwin and Public Health: Convergence or Conflict?
David Haig, Harvard University
Prader-Willi Syndrome and the Evolution of Human Childhood
Claudio Franceschi, University of Bologna
Aging and Immunosenescence in a Darwinian Perspective

DARWINISM TODAY: HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES
Monday, December 7, 2009, 1–5 p.m.
The Castle, 225 Bay State Road
Moderator: Alisa Bokulich, Boston University
Jane Maienschien, Arizona State University
Developmental Biology and Stem Cells in the Context of Evolution
Scott Podolsky, Harvard University
Clonal Selection Theory and the Neo-Darwinian Transformation of Immunology Lenny Moss, University of Exeter
What Is Selecting What? Reviewing Darwinism at the Molecular-Ground Level Paul Churchland, University of California, San Diego
Naturalizing Epistemology: How Brains Get a Grip on Unfolding Structures in
Time

THE BOSTON COLLOQUIUM JUBILEE
The Boston University Center for Philosophy & History of Science, which sponsors the
Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science, was established in 1960 by Professors
Marx Wartofsky and Robert S. Cohen. They conceived a forum of scholarly exchange in
the broadest interdisciplinary framework to characterize the natural and human sciences
in their cultural and historical contexts. The Colloquium, which began as a Boston-based,
informal inter-university collaboration, has become a premier stage for national
and international dialogue on all aspects of the philosophy and history of science, mathematics, and logic. 2010 marks the Jubilee celebration of the Colloquium’s founding and the final year of Professor Alfred Tauber’s seventeen-year directorship of the Center.

PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY OF SCIENCE: THEN AND NOW
Thursday–Saturday, April 15–17, 2010
The Castle, 225 Bay State Road

Day 1: Perspectives, Thursday, April 15
Morning Session: 9 a.m.–Noon
Moderator: Daniel Dahlstrom, Boston University
Michael Lynch, Cornell University
The Checkered Career of Symmetry in Recent Social Studies of Science
Commentator: Jeff Coulter, Boston University
Don Howard, University of Notre Dame
The Trouble with Metaphysics
Commentator: John Stachel, Boston University

Afternoon Session: 2–5 p.m.
Hilary Putnam, Harvard University
On Not Writing Off Scientific Realism
Commentator: Peter Bokulich , Boston University
Alasdair Macintyre, University of Notre Dame
After Morgenbesser: The Continuing Messiness of the Social Sciences and Some Related Incoherences
Commentator: Lee McIntyre, Boston University

Day 2: Physics and Epistemology, Friday, April 16
Morning Session: 10 a.m.–Noon
Moderator: Alisa Bokulich, Boston University
Steven French, University of Leeds
Mixing in the Metaphysics: How Humble Should the Realist Be?
John Norton, University of Pittsburgh
Specialization and Fragmentation

Afternoon Session: 2–5 p.m.
Jaako Hintikka, Boston University
Induction, Then and Now
Margaret Morrison, University of Toronto
Changing Trends in the Epistemology of Science: Theory Meets Practice
Nancy Cartwright, London School of Economics
Putting Philosophy of Science to Use: Does Studying “Actual Practice” Help?

Day 3, Saturday, April 17
Morning Session: Biology
9 a.m.–Noon
Moderator: Alfred Tauber, Boston University
Elisabeth Lloyd, Indiana University
Models, Explanations, and Variation
Alex Rosenberg, Duke University
Invariants, Arms Races, and Natural Selection in Human Affairs
Sahotra Sarkar, University of Texas
After Biodiversity?

Afternoon Session: Summing Up
1:30–4 p.m.
Robert Cohen, Boston University
Reflections on the Past
Alfred Tauber, Boston University
Reflections on the Future
Round Table Discussion