11 Jul 2015
Paris, France
Questioning the Concepts of Culture, Diversity and Comparison in the History
and Philosophy of Science
Paris, France
11 July 2015
http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/home/loewe/IASCUD/paris2015.html
The International Association for Science and Cultural Diversity (IASCUD) is
pleased to announce a one-day workshop being held in Paris, France on Saturday,
11 July 2015. The event will consist of a number of presentations from invited
expert speakers and round-table discussions/debates to question the notions of
"culture", "diversity", and "comparison" in the history and philosophy of
science. This workshop, held in English, will be interactive and discussions
will be encouraged. We hope you will join us this summer in Paris.
PROGRAMME
9:00am. Welcome.
9:15am. Jeremy Tanner (University College London), Thinking through comparison
in art history.
Abstract. Very few art historians identify themselves as comparativists, but in
this paper he will argue that such central concepts of art history as "style"
and "context" presuppose a comparative logic. He will explore the explicitly
comparative approaches of such classics of art history as Johann Joachim
Winckelmann's History of Ancient Art and Alois Riegl's Group Portraiture of
Holland, and consider the eclipse of comparativist approaches to art in the
second half of the twentieth century, particularly in light of Ernst Gombrich's
classic article Norm and form, and the broader linguistic turn in the human
sciences, both of which informed a strong cultural relativism inimical to cross
cultural comparison in art history. The last part of the paper will explore the
underlying rationale, and the tools, for comparative approaches to art history
developed in recent contributions such as David Summers's Real Spaces.
10:30am-12:00pm. Round Table on "Historical and Critical Approaches to
Comparative History" (panelists: Takashi Nishiyama, Lisa Raphals, Jeremy
Tanner, Justin Smith).
The round table will be based on the talk by Jeremy Tanner, which opens the
meeting. He puts forward the thesis that one can establish a relationship
between the use of comparison in the history of art history and the key
concepts with which art history is carried out until today. Can we identify
such phenomena in other disciplines? To address this issue more broadly, we
will examine in a historical and critical way how comparisons have been carried
out in the framework of various other disciplines (history of art, history of
science, history of philosophy and so on). We are interested in the ways in
which comparanda have been shaped, and the respects in which depending on the
milieus carrying out comparison, comparanda were compared. We want also to
understand better the uses that were made of comparison, in a wider context,
and the impact of comparison on the fields.
2:00pm-3:30pm. Round table: Questioning "Culture" in the History and Philosophy
of Science (panelists: Kenji Ito, Lei Hsiang-lin, Dagmar Schaefer, Koen
Vermeir).
"Culture" remains a useful analytical tool in the history and philosophy of
science, despite the problems attached to the concept. The round table will
attempt to touch upon the problems, especially when concepts of culture are
used in relation to science. It will put under discussion some uses of
?culture? in the History and Philosophy of Science that appear to be
meaningful. We will examine what the term ?culture? referred to that could not
be grasped without it. In brief, how can "culture" enrich more concrete,
empirical, historical, philosophical studies of doing science?
4:00pm-5:30pm. Round Table: Questioning the notion of "diversity" in science
(Karine Chemla, Irfan Habib, Benedikt Löwe).
Historical and philosophical studies of science have observed "diversity" in
many different ways and at many different levels. But what do we mean by
"cultural diversity"? Why should we care, and what should we expect when we
engage in historical and philosophical studies of science in the world? What
are some benefits and risks to assuming the presence of diversity,
uniformity/universality, or both in science? How have the notion of "diversity"
and its historiographic description changed over time? How can an understanding
of "diversity" help us in decision-making processes relating to science policy?
PANELISTS.
Karine Chemla, Université Paris 7/CNRS (France)
Irfan Habib, National University of Educational Planning and Administration
(India)
Kenji Ito, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Japan)
Lei Hsiang-Lin, Academia Sinica (Taiwan)
Benedikt Löwe, Universiteit van Amsterdam (The Netherlands) & Universität
Hamburg (Germany)
Takashi Nishiyama, State University of New York, Brockport (USA)
Lisa Raphals, University of California, Riverside (USA)
Dagmar Schaefer, University of Manchester (UK, not confirmed)
Justin Smith, Université Paris 7/CNRS (France)
Jeremy Tanner, University College London (UK)
Koen Vermeir, Université Paris 7/CNRS (France)
Registration, Participation, and Deadline. Registration is free and required
ahead of time. On-site registration will not be available. Participation via
Skype is possible with a requisite arrangement. Attendees will be expected to
meet their own costs for travel and accommodation. On-line or physical
participation will be limited, so please let us know as soon as possible if you
with to attend this workshop. For registration, please contact Takashi
Nishiyama (tnishiya(at)brockport.edu) by midnight of your local time on July 1,
2015.
VENUE/PHYSICAL LOCATION.
Université Paris 7/CNRS Laboratoire SPHERE UMR 7219
Bâtiment/Building Condorcet
10 rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet
75013 Paris
Public transport: Metro line 14 / Station: Bibliothèque François Mitterrand,
Metro line 6 / Station: Quai de la Gare, RER C / Station: Bibliothèque François
Mitterrand, Bus 64 / Stop: Tolbiac-Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, Bus 62 &
89 / Stop: Avenue de France or Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, Bus 325 /
Stop: Watt.
IASCUD Conference Committee. Kenji Ito, Benedikt Löwe, and Takashi Nishiyama.