Archives 1978-1979

Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science
19th Annual Program

Theory Reduction: A Question of Fact or a Question of Value

October 10, 1978

  • Catherin Elgin, Simmons College

    Commentator: Michael R. Matthews, University of New South Wales

Scientific Prediction and Visions of the Future

October 17, 1978

  • Mihailo Markovic, Serbian Academy of Science, Belorade

    Commentator: Paul Breines, Boston College

Three Revolutions: Scientific, Industrial and Scientific-Technical

October 31, 1978

  • Mikulas Teich, Robinson College, University of Cambridge

    Commentators: Norman Lichtin, Boston University; Joseph Agassi, Boston University

Philosophy of Science and the Origin of Life

November 14, 1978

  • Hyman Hartman, The Children’s Hospital Medical Center

    Commentator: Lynn Margulis, Boston University

Science and Skepticism

November 21, 1978

  • J. W. N. Watkins, The London School of Economics

    Commentator: Sylvain Bromberger, M. I. T.

Conceptual History of Special Relativity

November 28, 1978

  • Max Jammer, Bar-Ilan University

    Commentator: John J. Stachel, Boston University and Princeton University

Determinism and Contingency: A Marxist Problem

December 5, 1978

  • Ralph Miliband, Brandeis University

    Commentator: Elizabeth Rapaport, Boston University

Testing, Reform and Reaction: Three Endeavors of Arabic Astronomy

December 12, 1978

  • A. I. Sabra, Harvard University

    Commentator: George Saliba, New York University

Eliminating Position Probabilities in the Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

January 16, 1979

  • Nancy Cartwright, Stanford University and Princeton University

    Commentators: Donald J. Hockney, Polytechnic Institute of New York; Hilary Putnam, Harvard University

Can True and False Needs be Posited?

January 23, 1979

  • Agnes Heller, La Trobe University

    Commentator: Marx W. Wartofsky

Pierce and Pearson: Pragmatism vs. Instrumentalism

February 6, 1979

  • Peter Skagestad, University of Oslo

    Commentators: Ingrid Stadler, Wellesley College; Richard M. Martin, Northwestern University

Paradise Not Surrendered: Jewish Reactions to Copernicus and the Growth of Modern Science

February 13, 1979

  • Hillel Levine, Yale University

  • Commentator: Marx W. Wartofsy, Boston University

Marx’s Critical Concept of Science

February 24, 1979

  • John J. Stachel, Boston University and Princeton University

    Commentator: Robert S. Cohen, Boston University

Damned with Faint Praise: Or the Fate of Pierre Duhem

March 13, 1979

  • Stanley L. Jaki, Setton Hall University

  • Commentator: Sheldon Krimsky, Tufts University

How Does a Brain Build a Cognitive Code?

March 20, 1979

  • Stephen Grossberg, Boston University

    Commentator: Judson Webb, Boston University

Temporality and the Structure of Physics as Human Endeavor

April 3, 1979

  • Paul M. Quay, St. Louis University

    Commentator: Silvan S. Schweber, Brandeis University

Symmetries and Infinities

April 10, 1979

  • Steven Weinberg, Harvard University

    Commentator: Abner Shimony, Boston University

Did Galileo Matter More than Newton? (Against Catastrophism in History of Science)

April 17, 1979

  • Winifred L. Wisan, Brooklyn College

    Commentator: Patrick Heelan, SUNY at Stony Brook

The Energies of Places

April 24, 1979

  • E. V. Walter, Boston University

    Commentator: Erazim Kohak, Boston University

Esthetic Rationality

May 1, 1979

  • Herbert Marcuse, University of California, San Diego

    Commentator: Marx W. Wartofsky, Boston University