News

CfP: Integrating the History and Philosophy of Biodiversity

Narratives of Diversity, Extinction, Conflict and Value

CEFISES faculty Dr Charles Pence and PhD student Max Bautista Perpinyà are organizing a conference entitled Integrating the History and Philosophy of Biodiversity. Narratives of Diversity, Extinction, Conflict and Value, to take place in Brussels on October 20 and 21*, 2023.

The conference aims to bring together scholars from several traditions – at the very least, from philosophy of science, history of science, and environmental history – to propose different ways to think about ‘biodiversity’ and explore how they might interact. From philosophical studies on the empirical underdetermination of biodiversity to histories of environmental conflicts, including also historiographic and normative studies, this conference is purposedly multidisciplinary. We invite interested researchers to consult the full scope and motivations of the conference at https://pencelab.be/events/biodiversity-2023/.

Deadline CfA

1 April, 2023, 23:59 CET.

Dates and location

The conference will take place over two days, October 20 and 21*, 2023, at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium. At the moment, given the public health situation in Belgium, we anticipate having a fully in-person meeting, though we will make changes to this policy as needed (and would also be happy to consider exceptions to this policy).

Asterisk: * For those who are able to stay for the morning of October 22, we have planned an excursion to a local museum – likely to the biodiversity collections at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, just outside Brussels. More details are forthcoming, but if you are able to stick around as you plan your travel, please consider it!

Keynotes

David Sepkoski (University of Illinois)

Alkistis Elliott-Graves (Bielefeld University)

Organisers

Charles Pence (Université catholique de Louvain)

Max Bautista Perpinyà (Université catholique de Louvain)

For more information, please see https://pencelab.be/events/biodiversity-2023/.

Extra CEFISES Seminar: Zach Weber (Logic & Philosophy)

On Friday 16/12, we have the honor to have Zach Weber from New-Zealand over for a talk at the CEFISES logic&philosophy seminar on paraconsistent logic. Everybody interested (students, researchers, non-academic philosophers, …) is more than welcome! The talk will be accessible for a broad philosophically interested audience.

Speaker: Zach Weber (University of Otago, New Zealand)

Title: “Paraconsistency: past, present, future.”

Date and Time: 11:00-13:00 (ATTENTION: not at the usual time of the cefises seminar, at 14:00 there will also be the planned CEFISES seminar.

Venue: Bâtiment Socrate, Place Cardinal Mercier, Louvain-la-Neuve, room SOCR24.

Hybrid: you can also join on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81245987323)

Abstract:
There are many approaches to paraconsistency, ranging from the very moderate to the more radical. In this talk I will explore and extend the more radical end of the spectrum, where there are truth-value gluts. The aim is to evaluate the philosophical and technical tenability of such an approach. I will show that there are very significant technical challenges to face on this sort of radical approach, but that there is good philosophical support for facing these challenges.

CfA: From Science to Metaphysics?

The CfA for the fourth OLOFOS Workshop (From Science to Metaphysics? On the use of scientific knowledge and practices in order to propose an ontology of nature) is open until December 21st, 2022.

From Science to Metaphysics? On the use of scientific knowledge and practices in order to propose an ontology of nature is the theme of the 4th workshop of the OLOFOS group. It will take place on May 11-12 2023 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) at the Institut supérieur de philosophie (ISP) of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). Note that any approach to this theme is potentially acceptable. However, contributions about the justification of using science in a metaphysical project will have the preference of the selection committee.

Invited speakers
Anjan CHAKRAVARTTY, University of Miami
Michela MASSIMI, University of Edinburg

Organising committee
GUAY, Alexandre, Université catholique de Louvain
CHALAS, Kévin, Université catholique de Louvain
SARTENAER, Olivier, Université de Namur

Scientific Committee
Chakravartty, Anjan, University of Miami
Guay, Alexandre, UCLouvain
Leclercq, Bruno, Université de Liège
Massimi, Michela, University of Edinburgh
Pence, Charles, chargé de cours, UCLouvain
Sartenaer, Olivier, Université de Namur
Verdée, Peter, UCLouvain

Call for Abstracts (Deadline December 12th, 2022): https://sciencemeta.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/AppelOLOFOS2023eng_1.pdf

More information: https://sciencemeta.sciencesconf.org/

Event Page: https://cefises.be/en/event/olofos-workshop-iv-from-science-to-metaphysics/

CfA: Mechanisms and Ontic Causation in Life Sciences

The CfA for the second MeCauLife Group Workshop (Mechanisms and Ontic Causation in Life Sciences) is open until February 1st, 2023.

Mechanisms and Ontic Causation in Life Sciences is the theme of the 2nd workshop of the MeCauLife group. It will take place on June 15-16 2023 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) at the Institut supérieur de philosophie (ISP) of the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). Note that any approach to this theme is potentially acceptable.

Invited speakers
Marie I. KAISER, Bielefeld University
Daniel LIU, ICI Berlin
Marcel WEBER, Université de Genève

Consortium speakers
Ruey-Lin CHEN, National Chung Cheng University
Richard HOU, National Chung Cheng University
Jonathon HRICKO, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Linton WANG, National Chung Cheng University
Karen YAN, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Organising Committe
Max BAUTISTA PERPINYÀ, UCLouvain
Alexandre GUAY, UCLouvain
Cherles PENCE, UCLouvain

Scientific Committe
Ruey-Lin CHEN, National Chung Cheng University
Alexandre GUAY, UCLouvain
Marie I. KAISER, Bielefeld University
Daniel LIU, ICI Berlin
Charles PENCE, UCLouvain
Marcel WEBER, Université de Genève

Call for Abstracts (Deadline February 1st, 2023): https://mecaulife.sciencesconf.org/data/pages/AppelCausation2023eng.pdf

More information: https://mecaulife.sciencesconf.org/

Event Page: https://cefises.be/en/event/mecaulife-group-workshop-ii-mechanisms-and-ontic-causation-in-life-sciences/

Post-Darwinian Societies Seminar, 2022–2023

Thomas Malthus, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx

In collaboration between CEFISES (Charles Pence) and the Chaire Hoover d’éthique économique et sociale (Gregory Ponthière), we’re continuing last year’s series of talks on the theme of Post-Darwinian Societies.

The goal of the Post-Darwinian Societies Seminar is to bring together researchers from various disciplines – including, but not limited to, philosophy, social sciences, economics, history and biology – who all work on evolutionary dynamics and selection effects. Dialogues between different scientific disciplines can contribute to the identification of new epistemological challenges for evolutionary theories, as well as to the emergence of new normative perspectives for the ethical foundation of the Welfare State.

Each seminar is online and will take place on Tuesday afternoons, 16h30–17h30, via Teams.

The schedule (subject to change and evolution) for 2022–2023:

Attendance is free but registration is mandatory at dina.geron@uclouvain.be

CFP: ExLog 2022

The ExLog conference, hosted by the research group of Peter Verdée, will be taking place again this year from 12–14 July, 2022. Check out more information, including the list of invited speakers and the call for papers, on the conference website here!

Post-Darwinian Societies Seminar

Thomas Malthus, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx

In collaboration between CEFISES (Charles Pence) and the Chaire Hoover d’éthique économique et sociale (Gregory Ponthière), we are proud to announce a new series of talks that will take place over the spring of 2022 (and potentially launch a collaboration that continues even further into the future!) on the theme of Post-Darwinian Societies.

The goal of the Post-Darwinian Societies Seminar is to bring together researchers from various disciplines – including, but not limited to, philosophy, social sciences, economics, history and biology – who all work on evolutionary dynamics and selection effects. Dialogues between different scientific disciplines can contribute to the identification of new epistemological challenges for evolutionary theories, as well as to the emergence of new normative perspectives for the ethical foundation of the Welfare State.

Each seminar is online (via Teams) and is scheduled on Thursday 12.45–13.45.

The program for 2022:

Attendance is free but registration is mandatory at dina.geron@uclouvain.be

Recent talks on YouTube

More and more CEFISES seminars are beginning to appear on YouTube! You can find them, usually a few days after the fact, on this YouTube playlist. We are also streaming as many as we can on YouTube Live at the time of the talks – you can ask questions in the chat in real time!

Hello, world!

Welcome to the new website for UCLouvain’s Center for the Philosophy of Science and Society, or CEFISES. We’re still working hard to get everything online here, so pardon our dust for the next few weeks while we get up and running!