Entity Realism Beyond Manipulation

We are pleased to share the program and registration details for the workshop Entity Realism Beyond Manipulation. Participation (including lunch and refreshments) is free of charge, but we ask you to register by 7 June 2026 by sending your name and affiliation to [email protected]. The program is as follows:

Tuesday, June 16

11.30 – 11.45 Welcome Address

11.45 – 12.30 Katherine Morrow, University of Oslo — Against Selective Antirealism About Ecological Entities

12.30 – 14.00  Lunch Break

14.00 – 14.45 Kenneth Aizawa, Rutgers University Newark — Compositional Abduction and Entity Realism

14.45 – 15.30 Mahdi Khalili, University of Bern — Entity Realism about Black Holes

15.30 – 16.00    Coffee Break

16.00 – 16.45 Gauvain Leconte-Chevillard, University of Namur — No Manipulation, No Entities? The Ontological Commitment of Natural Experiments in Astrophysics and Cosmology

16.45 – 18.00 Mauricio Suárez, Complutense University of Madrid — Deflating Experimental Realism in Astrophysics

19.00 – 22.00  Workshop Dinner  

Wednesday, June 17

11.00 – 11.45  Thijs Latten, Delft University of Technology — An Engineering Perspective on Quantum State Realism: A Case Study in Expanding Causal Realism

11.45 – 12.30 Ruey-Lin Chen, National Chung Cheng University & Jonathan Hricko, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University — Real Entities and Real Causal Relationships: The Cases of the Transgenic and Gene Knockout/Knock-In Methods

12.30 – 14.00    Lunch Break

14.00 – 14.45 Matthias Egg, University of Bern — Effective Entity Realism

14.45 – 16.00 Nora Boyd (online), Siena University — How to Get in Touch With Distant Reality: The Causal Production of Empirical Data

16.00 – 16.30   Coffee Break

16.30 – 17.15 Panel Discussion

17.15 – 17.30    Closing Remarks

This conference is part of the project Extending the Scope of Causal Realism, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.