Shaping the Trading Zone: Bringing Aesthetics and Philosophy of Science Together

The connections between art and science been extensively studied for some time. However, the connections between the philosophy of science and aesthetics have yet to be treated in any systematic way, if at all. This is unfortunate since such connections have the potential to reinvigorate core questions in both areas, especially those concerning matters of representation, ontology, underdetermination, and the relationships with other fields.

The nature of representation is clearly one of the more obvious overlapping themes on which fruitful dialogue can be expected, but there are several other less obvious examples. Consider the ontological questions ‘what is a scientific theory?’, ‘what is an artwork?’ and ‘what is a musical work?’ Of course, such questions form the bread and butter of researchers in their separate disciplinary domains, but the potential links between reflections on theories and works of art and music have not been widely pursued.

The aim of the conference is to promote fruitful dialogue between these areas and facilitate philosophical trade between aesthetics and philosophy of science, to the benefit of both.


Speakers


Ann-Sophie Barwich (Konrad Lorenz Institute)
‘Is Captain Kirk a Natural Blonde? The Limits of Fiction and What They Can Tell Us About Modelling in Science’

Otávio Bueno (University of Miami)
‘Interpreting Science, Interpreting Art’

Alix Cohen (Edinburgh University)
‘Kant on the aesthetic dimension of cognition’

George Darby (University of Oxford)
‘Truth and Partial Truth in Science and Fiction’

Catherine Elgin (Harvard University)
'Exemplification in Science and Art'

Logan Fletcher (University of Maryland)
‘Euclidean Diagrams as Depictions’

Steven French (University of Leeds)
‘Eliminating Objects in the Philosophies of Art and Science’

John Kulvicki (Dartmouth College)
‘Images in Science and in Art’

Aaron Meskin (University of Leeds)
'Philosophy of/and/in Experimental Aesthetics'

Dean Rickles (University of Sydney)
‘Are There Laws of Music?’

Julia Sanchez-Dorado (University College London)
‘The Problem of Similarity in the Understanding of Scientific and Artistic Representations’

Nola Semczyszyn (Franklin & Marshall College)
‘Pictorial Experience and Instrumentally Aided Perception’

Adam Toon (University of Exeter)
'What can philosophers of science learn from philosophers of fiction?'



Registration: £20 (includes lunch both days); postgrads/unwaged: £10

If you are interested in attending please contact: [email protected]

The conference is supported by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science and the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds.