21-22 Mar 2014
Berne, Switzerland
*Towards an Epistemology of Understanding. Rethinking Justification* International Conference Friday/Saturday March 21--22, 2014 University of Bern (Switzerland) Venue: Building Unitobler, Lerchenweg 36, Room F012 Our epistemic endeavours do not only aim at knowledge and rational belief. We also want to understand what we believe. We search for explanations of facts we know and for theories which organize our knowledge. But what indicates whether an explanation is appropriate or whether a theory really advances our understanding? This question brings justification to the fore, an aspect of understanding that has hardly been addressed so far. In epistemology, where understanding has become a hot topic, epistemic justification is intensively discussed, but not with respect to explanations and theories. In philosophy of science, explanations and theories are widely debated, but rarely with an eye t to understanding. The aim of this conference is to bring together the debates in epistemology and in philosophy of science to clarify the question what justification in connection with understanding means. More specifically, the conference will explore how this question can be addressed by exploiting, on the one hand, well-known epistemological positions, such as internalism and theories that refer to coherence, abilities or character traits; and, on the other hand, by making use of insights from philosophy of science which help to clarify the structure of explanations and theories as well as the plurality of epistemic values. Speakers and talks: Catherine Elgin (Harvard), "Exemplification and Understanding" Christoph Baumberger & Georg Brun (Zürich), "Justifying Understanding by Reflective Equilibrium" Christoph Kelp (Leuven), "Understanding, Knowledge and Ability" Henk de Regt (Amsterdam), "Facts, Fictions and Scientific Understanding" John Greco (Saint Louis), "Against an Internalist Understanding of 'Understanding'" Kareem Khalifa (Middlebury), "Must Understanding be Coherent?" Sabine Ammon (Cottbus/Darmstadt), "Understanding: Probing Procedural Epistemology" Stephen Grimm (Fordham), "Should we Favor an Internalist Account of Understanding?" Victor Gijsbers (Leiden), "Coherentism and Unification" Comments by Anna Maria Eder (München/Konstanz), Christian Budnik (Bern), Christoph Baumberger (Zürich), Claus Beisbart (Bern), Jörg Löschke (Bern), Kathrin Hönig (St. Gallen/Konstanz), Nicolas Wüthrich (London), Pedro Schmechtig (Dresden), Ursula Renz (Klagenfurt/Konstanz) The detailed program can be found on the conference website: _http://www.philosophie.unibe.ch/content/philoscience/justification/index_ger.html_ Attendance is free, but the number of participants is limited. Please register by sending an e-mail to: C <mailto:Claus.Beisbart@philo.unibe.ch>_laus.Beisbart@philo.unibe.ch_ <mailto:Claus.Beisbart@philo.unibe.ch>__ Organized by: Christoph Baumberger (ETH Zurich), Georg Brun (University of Zurich), Sabine Ammon (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus/University of Technology Darmstadt), Claus Beisbart (University of Bern) The conference is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), the Society for Analytic Philosophy (GAP), the Swiss Society for Logic and Philosophy of Science (SSLPS) and the Burgergemeinde Bern.