Archives: 2013–2014
Boston Colloquium for Philosophy of Science
54th Annual Program
Download the 54th Annual Program
The Alfred I. Tauber Forum
Evolutionary Explanations of Morality
Co-sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Humanities
Friday, September 27, 2013
1–6 p.m.
Barristers Hall, BU School of Law
765 Commonwealth Avenue
Ethics as a Human Project
Philip Kitcher Philosophy, Columbia University
Morality Did Not Evolve
Edouard Machery History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh
The Limits of Evolutionary Explanations of Morality
Russell Powell Philosophy, Boston University
Why Evolution Doesn’t Debunk Ethical Realism
William FitzPatrick Philosophy, University of Rochester
Strategic Morality
Robert Kurzban Psychology, University of Pennsylvania
The Robert S. Cohen Forum: Contemporary Issues in Science Studies
Time in Cosmology
Friday, October 18, 2013
1–5 p.m.
The Castle
225 Bay State Road
Time and Law in Cosmology
Lee Smolin Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Realism without Reification: How to Believe in Becoming
Jenann Ismael Philosophy, University of Arizona
A Universe in which Everything Changes Sooner or Later
Roberto Mangabeira Unger Law School, Harvard University
Cosmological Laws without Real Time
Chris Smeenk Philosophy, University of Western Ontario
Joint Meeting with History of Science Society
Science in the Streets: Public Engagement Then and Now
Thursday, November 21, 2013
3–6 p.m.
Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 253C
415 Summer Street
Boston, Massachusetts
*Please note the change in location.
This session will consist of two panel discussions exploring innovative ways of connecting citizens with science, and how the history of science can inform and enrich these efforts.
Panel I: Science and Spectacle
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Science Festivals and the Changing Culture of Science Engagement
John Durant Director of the MIT Museum and Executive Director of the Cambridge Science Festival
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History of Science Through Comedy
Brian Malow Science Comedian
David Kaiser MIT
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Carving Story out of Science: On Stage and On Air
Ari Daniel Story Collider and Freelance Writer
- Panel discussion on current initiatives as well as historical cases such as the “shocking” public spectacles of itinerant electrical showmen and Benjamin Franklin, the history of automata and court entertainment, and showmanship and dinosaur bones in the history of American paleontology. Panelists include historians of science Gerardo Aldana, Oliver Hochadel, and Heidi Voskuhl.
Panel II: Crowdsourcing Science: Science by the People?
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Crowdsourcing at the Smithsonian: From 1849 Weather Observers to Today’s Encyclopedia of Life
Pamela Henson Director of the Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives
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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Data: From Whewell’s “Subordinate Labourers” to Maury’s Seafarers
Caren Cooper Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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The Zooniverse at Your Fingertips
Lucy Fortson School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Citizen Science Alliance
- Panel discussion on current initiatives such as Foldit as well as historical cases such as networks of human earthquake observers and crowdsourcing in the history of astronomy. Panelists include historians of science Deborah Coen, Leandra Swanner, and Lukas Rieppel.
QUESTIONS TO BE EXPLORED INCLUDE: What are some of the new creative initiatives to engage the public in science? Do these initiatives have a historical precedent? How has the relationship between “science” and “the public” changed over time? Why do citizens become involved in crowdsourcing? Is crowdsourcing a democratization of science or exploitative? What are the goals of engaging the public in science? How can historians of science contribute to efforts in public engagement?
Revisiting the Foundations of Statistics in the Era of Big Data: Scaling Up to Meet the Challenge
Cosponsored by the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at Boston University
Friday, February 21, 2014
10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Photonics Center, 9th Floor Colloquium Room (Rm 906)
8 St. Mary’s Street
10 a.m.–noon
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Computational Challenges in Genomic Medicine
Jill Mesirov Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Broad Institute
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Selection, Significance, and Signification: Issues in High Energy Physics
Kent Staley Philosophy, Saint Louis University
1:30–5:30 p.m.
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Multi-Resolution Inference: An Engineering (Engineered?) Foundation of Statistical Inference
Xiao-Li Meng Statistics, Harvard University
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Is the Philosophy of Probabilism an Obstacle to Statistical Fraud Busting?
Deborah Mayo Philosophy, Virginia Tech
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Targeted Learning from Big Data
Mark van der Laan Biostatistics and Statistics, UC Berkeley
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Panel Discussion
Participants included: Kent Staley, Deborah Mayo, Xiao-Li Meng, and Mark van der Laan
Epistemic Injustice in Science
Friday, April 4, 2014
1–5 p.m.
Center for Student Services, Room 545
100 Bay State Road
Varieties of Testimonial Injustice
Miranda Fricker Philosophy, University of Sheffield
Epistemic Injustice and Responsible Trust in Science
Heidi Grasswick Philosophy, Middlebury College
Hermeneutical Injustice and Agnotology in Science
Miriam Solomon Philosophy, Temple University
Race, Gender and Neutral Science
Evelynn Hammonds History of Science and African-American Studies, Harvard University
