CFP: Knowledge, Science, and Society

Knowledge, Science, and Society aims to encourage collaborative, interdisciplinary exchange on the normative dimensions of scientific knowledge production. For example: What kinds of social environments are conducive to producing knowledge? How should scientific experts communicate about science to the general public? What counts as enough evidence for accepting a theory or claim, and can this vary depending on what is morally or practically at stake? The workshop will feature keynote addresses by Sherri Roush (Philosophy, UCLA) and Jevin West (Computational Social Science, University of Washington).

The workshop will feature epistemologists, philosophers of science, and scholars from other disciplines. Our intention is to balance the number of talks from different research areas, and for speaker-commentary pairs to come from different disciplines or research areas as well. Accordingly, all participants will be asked to choose the disciplinary affiliation that most closely fits their talk. Talks will last twenty minutes, followed by ten minutes of commentary and a fifteen-minute Q&A.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Consensus and dissensus in science
• The nature and limits of scientific authority and expertise
• Inductive risk and pragmatic encroachment
• Ways of knowing
• Norms of science
• Epistemic injustice and oppression
• Accountability and transparency in research
• Misinformation
• Science communication
• Public participation in science

Submit applications through the Easychair system by February 15, 2024. https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=kss1

Participants will be asked to provide:

• An abstract (500-700 words), including a brief comment on how the paper fits the aims of the workshop (additional ≤200 words)
• A disciplinary affiliation

We aim to notify applicants of acceptance/rejection by early March. Some funding may be available to defray travel expenses and hotel accommodations.

The conference will be held at the University of California, San Diego.

Email questions to Karen Kovaka ([email protected]).

Sponsored by: The Institute for Practical Ethics