11-13 September 2008
Heidelberg, Germany
Conference Announcement: International Symposium Data - Phenomena - Theories: What’s the notion of a scientific phenomenon good for? http://www.philosophie.uni-hd.de/dbj/phenomena08.html University of Heidelberg, Germany 09/11 - 09/13/2008 Topic of the conference Typically, scientists call subjects they investigate phenomena. While the notion of a scientific phenomenon is common in science, apart from a few exceptions, it has not been systematically discussed in philosophy of science. Even worse, there seem to be two ways the notion is used. On the one hand, following the ancient astronomical program called ”Saving the phenomena”, scienti fic phenomena are taken to be observed facts that should be explained. On the other hand, following Bogen and Woodward (1988), scientific phenomena are taken to be general non-observable patterns that can be inferred from the data and should be explained. The conference aims at discussing these suggestions, and perhaps others. Should, or can, the notion be restricted to observable facts? If not, if knowledge about scientific phenomena is typically gained via inference, are phenomena theory-laden? and if so in what sense? Are scientific phenomena that are inferred from data on a par with theoretical entities? How may the notion of a scientific phenomenon be explicated such that it illuminates the way science works? Keynote Speakers: James Bogen, University of Pittsburgh Brigitte Falkenburg, University of Dortmund Stephan Hartmann, Tilburg University Andreas Huettemann, University of Muenster Peter Machamer, University of Pittsburgh Michela Massimi, UCL James McAllister, University of Leiden Sandra Mitchell, University of Pittsburgh James Woodward, CALTECH Registration There is no registration fee. Further participants are welcome but should register by sending an email to phaenomene@uni-heidelberg.de by 15 August 2008. Organization The conference is organized by Andreas Kemmerling, Peter McLaughlin and the research project “Causality, Cognition and the Constitution of Scientific Phenomena”, which was initiated and lead by the late Daniela Bailer-Jones. For further information about the project see: http://www.philosophie.uni-hd.de/dbj/index.html or http://www.philosophie.uni-hd.de/dbj/index_e.html.