CFP: 2nd Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Group in India

Topic Areas

• General Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Social Sciences
• Philosophy of Biology
• Philosophy of Economics

Keynote Speakers:

• Richard Boyd, Cornell University
• Sahotra Sarkar, University of Texas at Austin
• Anjan Chakravartty, University of Notre Dame
• Harold Kincaid, University of Cape Town
• Uskali Mäki, University of Helsinki
• Amita Chatterjee, Jadavpur University
• Federica Russo, University of Amsterdam
• Dhruv Raina, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Purpose of Conference

The philosophy of science, while a relatively new topic of study in the long span of philosophical inquiry, has come to occupy a central place in the discipline. Besides addressing traditional epistemological, metaphysical and ethical questions as applied to the practice of science, contemporary philosophers of science engage fruitfully with foundational questions that arise within particular scientific theories, blurring the artificial boundaries between philosophy and science. As a consequence, the field offers great potential for interdisciplinary interaction between philosophers and scientists, leading to clearer analyses of difficult scientific concepts and the application of new scientific discoveries to traditional philosophical questions.

Despite the importance and dynamism of the field internationally, philosophy of science remains a nascent discipline in India. The community of researchers is small, and students often feel unprepared to tackle a subject that requires knowledge not only of philosophy but also of science. The philosophy of science group was formed with the intention of overcoming these obstacles – to encourage young scholars to conduct high-quality research in the philosophy of science, and to provide a space for the existing philosophy of science community to collaborate and exchange ideas.

Call for Extended Abstracts

We will host a conference with papers submitted by scholars, both young and experienced, interested in the philosophy of science.

·         Each day will begin with two or three 1 hour talks from invited speakers, including 15-20 minutes of discussion.

·         These will be followed by six or seven 30 minute presentations of contributed papers, including 10 minutes of discussion.

·         Submitted abstracts will undergo peer review, in order to ensure a high standard of discourse.

·         We expect a broad range of papers in the philosophy of science.

Submissions are invited to the second meeting of the expanded group. Extended abstracts (up to 1000 words) can be submitted on this site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=philsci-india2

Deadline for Submission: August 31, 2015.

Notification of Acceptance: September 30, 2015.

Papers should be accessible to an audience of researchers and those keenly interested in doing research in philosophy of science. Papers will be held to the usual high standards of research publications. In particular, they should:

1. explain the significance of the work—its novelty and its practical or theoretical implications; and
2. include comparisons with and references to relevant literature.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

·         semantic and syntactic models for scientific knowledge,

·         realism and anti-realism,

·         nature of method(s) in science (including social science),

·         reasoning in science,

·         causality,

·         nature of space and time,

·         complex systems,

·         philosophy of biology,

·         philosophy of economics,

·         philosophy of technology

·         experiments and simulations in science, and

·         science and ethics.

Organizing committee

T. Jayaraman­– Co-chair (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India)

Bijoy Mukherjee – Co-chair (Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan, India)

Prasanta Bandyopadhyay (Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA)

Prajit Basu (University of Hyderabad, India)

Manjari Chakraborty (Visva-Bharati, Shantiniketan, India)

Amita Chatterjee (Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India)

Sreekuamar Jayadevan (Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur, India)

Stephen Jayard (Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, India)

Priyedarshi Jetli (Mumbai, India)

Philose Koshy (Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India)

Tarun Menon (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India)

Smita Sirker (Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India)

Further Inquiries:

[email protected]