EPSA Philosophy of Science: Amsterdam 2009

472 Pages·2012·13.15 MB·English

by  Marcel Boumans (auth.)

The European Philosophy of Science Association
Proceedings
Volume 1
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/8888

· ·
Henk W. de Regt Stephan Hartmann
Samir Okasha
Editors
EPSA Philosophy of Science:
Amsterdam 2009
123
Editors
HenkW.deRegt StephanHartmann
VUUniversityAmsterdam TilburgUniversity
DeBoelelaan1105 POBox90153
1081HVAmsterdam 5000LETilburg
Netherlands Netherlands
[email protected] [email protected]
SamirOkasha
UniversityofBristol
Bristol
UnitedKingdom
[email protected]
ISBN978-94-007-2403-7 e-ISBN978-94-007-2404-4
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-2404-4
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011938947
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2012
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Introduction
This volume contains selected papers presented at the second conference of the
European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA), held at VU University
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 21–24 October 2009. EPSA was founded in order
to stimulate philosophy of science in Europe and foster contacts among European
philosophers of science and between philosophers in Europe and elsewhere. An
importantconcretegoalwastoestablishatraditionofbiennialconferences andto
publish the best papers delivered at these conferences. The first EPSA conference
tookplaceinMadridinNovember2007andwasanimmediatesuccess.Aselection
ofpaperspresentedatthisconferencehasbeenpublishedintwovolumes,editedby
MauricioSuárez,MauroDoratoandMiklósRédei(Springer,2010).
The papers collected in the present volume offer a representative sample of the
best work in contemporary philosophy of science, by European as well as non-
Europeanscholars.Followingacallforpapers,wereceivedmorethan400extended
submitted abstracts (293 individual submissions and 34 symposium proposals),
manyofwhichwereofveryhighquality.TheProgrammeCommittee,whichcon-
sistedof45experiencedphilosophersofscienceandwhichwaschairedbyStephan
HartmannandSamirOkasha,selectedthebestpapersinawiderangeofsubfields.
Theresultingprogrammereflectedthebroadspectrumofcontemporaryphilosophy
of science and featured 189 paper presentations. After the conference, all presen-
ters were invited to submit a written version of their paper for publication in the
present volume. A severe reviewing process followed, in which each submission
was reviewed by two external referees. The referees indicated which papers they
foundinprinciplesuitableforpublicationandinmostcasestheysupplieddetailed
comments and suggestions for revision. On the basis of the reviewers’ reports we
selected the best papers and invited the corresponding authors to submit a revised
version.Accordingly,the37papersincludedinthisvolumemeetthehighstandards
thatEPSAhasset.
We would like to thank a number of people and institutions without whose
assistance and support the publication of the present volume would not have been
possible.TheLocalOrganizingCommitteeofEPSA09,chairedbyHenkW.deRegt
andHansRadder,forasmoothrunningoftheconferenceandformakingEPSA09
a success. Thanks also to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
v
vi Introduction
(KNAW) for financial support, and the Faculty of Philosophy of VU University
Amsterdam for providing material and administrative support. Further thanks are
duetothemembersoftheProgrammeCommittee,whofirstreviewedtheabstracts
submitted for presentation at the conference and later acted as reviewers of the
paperssubmittedforpublicationinthisvolume.Lastbutnotleast,wewouldliketo
expressourgratitudetoLucyFleetandTiesNijssenofSpringerfortheirinvaluable
helpandsupportduringtheeditorialprocess.
HenkW.deRegt
StephanHartmann
SamirOkasha
Contents
1 Modeling Strategies for Measuring Phenomena
In-andOutsidetheLaboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
MarcelBoumans
2 MatingIntelligence,MoralVirtues,andMethodologicalVices . . . 13
TomislavBracanovic
3 RejectedPosits,Realism,andtheHistoryofScience . . . . . . . . 23
AlbertoCordero
4 Explanation and Modelization in a Comprehensive
InferentialAccount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
XavierdeDonato-RodríguezandJesúsZamora-Bonilla
5 StandardsinHistory:EvaluatingSuccessinStemCellExperiments 43
MelindaFagan
6 ModelingScientificEvidence:TheChallengeofSpecifying
Likelihoods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
PatrickForber
7 PersistenceinMinkowskiSpace-Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
CordFriebe
8 GenuineversusDeceptiveEmotionalDisplays . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
JonathanGrose
9 Tales of Tools and Trees: Phylogenetic Analysis
andExplanationinEvolutionaryArchaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
WyboHoukes
10 SustainingaRationalDisagreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
ChristophKelpandIgorDouven
11 Philosophical Accounts of Causal Explanation
andtheScientificPracticeofPsychophysics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
TimChristianKietzmann
vii
viii Contents
12 Meta-analysisasJudgmentAggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
BernaKilinc
13 TheUninvitedGuest:‘LocalRealism’andtheBellTheorem . . . . 137
FedericoLaudisa
14 OnTinsandTin-Openers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
MichaelListon
15 The Problem of Identifying the System
andtheEnvironmentinthePhenomenonofDecoherence . . . . . 161
OlimpiaLombardi,SebastianFortin,andMarioCastagnino
16 FormalandMaterialTheoriesinPhilosophyofScience:
AMethodologicalInterpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
AlanC.Love
17 AxiologicalScientificRealismandMethodologicalPrescription . . 187
TimothyD.Lyons
18 ConsensusFormationinNetworkedGroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
CarloMartini
19 Mirror Neurons and Social Cognition: An Expanded
SimulationistFramework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
JohnMichael
20 IdentityinPhysics:Properties,Statistics
andthe(Non-)IndividualityofQuantumParticles . . . . . . . . . . 227
MatteoMorganti
21 TheFiberBundleattheGatesofMetaphysics.Challenging
TimMaudlin’sProposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
IoanMuntean
22 ThePhaseRuleandtheNotionofSubstance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
PaulNeedham
23 PatternandProcessinEvo-Devo:DescriptionsandExplanations . 263
LauraNuñodelaRosaandArantzaEtxeberria
24 ThreeConceptionsofExplainingHowPossibly—andOne
ReductiveAccount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
JohannesPersson
25 AnImproperIntroductiontoEpistemicUtilityTheory . . . . . . . 287
RichardPettigrew
26 Defending Underdetermination or Why the Historical
PerspectiveMakesaDifference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
WolfgangPietsch
Contents ix
27 AnInformationSemanticAccountofScientificModels . . . . . . . 315
Anna-MariRusanenandOttoLappi
28 ScientificRealismandHistoricalEvidence:Shortcomings
oftheCurrentStateofDebate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
JuhaSaatsi
29 VenetianSeaLevels,BritishBreadPricesandthePrinciple
oftheCommonCause:AReassessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
IñakiSanPedro
30 CoincidencesandHowtoReasonAboutThem . . . . . . . . . . . 355
ElliottSober
31 StoppingRulesandDataMonitoringinClinicalTrials . . . . . . . 375
RogerStanev
32 Two Comments on the Common Cause Principle
inAlgebraicQuantumFieldTheory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
ChrysovalantisStergiou
33 TheRoleofUnificationinExplanationsofFacts . . . . . . . . . . . 403
ErikWeber,JeroenVanBouwel,andMerelLefevere
34 Calibration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
PaulWeirich
35 Observational Equivalence of Deterministic
and Indeterministic Descriptions and the Role
ofDifferentObservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
CharlotteWerndl
36 DemarcatingPresentism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
ChristianWüthrich
AuthorIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451