< Colloquia

Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science

2010

50th Anniversary Celebration

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