Climate Studies

Since 2001 the University of Vienna and the Institute Vienna Circle have been holding an annual two-week summer program dedicated to major current issues in the natural and social sciences, their history and philosophy. The title of the program reflects the heritage of the Vienna Circle which promoted interdisciplinary and philosophical investigations based on solid disciplinary knowledge.

As an international interdisciplinary program, VISU-SWC brings graduate students in close contact with world-renowned scholars. It operates under the academic supervision of an International Program Committee of distinguished philosophers, historians, and scientists. The program is directed primarily to graduate students and junior researchers in fields related to the annual topic, but the organizers also encourage applications from gifted undergraduates and from people in all stages of their career who wish to broaden their horizon through crossdisciplinary studies of methodological and foundational issues in science. The summer course consists of morning sessions, chaired by distinguished lecturers which focus on readings assigned to students in advance. Afternoon sessions are made up of tutorials by assistant professors for junior students and of smaller groups which offer senior students the opportunity to discuss their own research papers with one of the main lecturers.

Climate Studies Vienna, July 1-12, 2013

organized by the University of Vienna and the Institute Vienna Circle. 

A two-week high-level summer course on questions related to fundamental problems of climate and climate change, spanning a wide range of topics in philosophy, politics and sociology, and addressing historical and epistemological issues from an international perspective.

Main Lecturers: Jim Fleming (Colby College) Roman Frigg (London School of Economics) Wendy Parker (Ohio University)

Guest Lecturer Angela Kallhoff (University Vienna)

International Program Committee John Beatty (British Columbia), Maria Carla Galavotti (Bologna), Malachi Hacohen (Duke), Rainer Hegselmann (Bayreuth), Michael Heidelberger (Tübingen), Paolo Mancosu (Berkeley), Elisabeth Nemeth (Vienna), Miklós Rédei (London), Friedrich Stadler (Vienna), Michael Stöltzner (South Carolina), Roger Stuewer (Minnesota), Thomas Uebel (Manchester) Karoly Kokai (Secretary of the VISU, Vienna) [email protected]

The main Lecturers Jim Fleming Jim Fleming (B.S. astronomy Penn State; M.S. atmospheric science Colorado State; Ph.D. history Princeton) is professor of science, technology, and society at Colby College, Maine. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society, founder and first president of the International Commission on History of Meteorology, and series editor of Palgrave Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Jim’s books include Meteorology in America, 1800-1870(Johns Hopkins, 1990), Historical Perspectives on Climate Change (Oxford, 1998), The Callendar Effect (AMS, 2007), and Fixing the Sky (Columbia, 2010). His new research involves a history of the emergence of atmospheric science and a biography of the “wild spirit” we now call carbon dioxide. http://www.colby.edu/profile/jfleming

Roman Frigg Roman Frigg is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Philosophy at the London School of Economics, Director of the Centre for Natural and Social Science (CPNSS), and Co-Director of the Centre for the Analysis of Time Series (CATS) at LSE. He holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of London and MSc's both in theoretical physics and philosophy from the University of Basel, Switzerland. His main research interests are in general philosophy of science and philosophy of physics. He has published papers on scientific modelling, quantum mechanics, the foundations of statistical mechanics, randomness, chaos, complexity theory, probability, computer simulations, and climate modelling. Further information can be found on www.romanfrigg.org

Wendy Parker Wendy Parker is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ohio University. She received her Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on the epistemology and methodology of computer simulation modeling, especially weather and climate modeling. She is particularly interested in how complex computer simulation models can be evaluated, how they can provide evidence for hypotheses about real- world target systems, and how they are used in "assimilating" traditional observational data. She is also interested in the roles of science in public policy. Her papers have appeared in a variety of journals, including Synthese, Philosophy of Science, and Studies in History & Philosophy of Modern Physics. http://www.ohio.edu/people/parkerw/

Climate Studies

Climate is both a familiar dimension of human experience and a product of complex physical, chemical and biological processes. Recent concerns over anthropogenic global warming have sparked renewed attention to climate from a variety of perspectives: natural scientists are attempting to understand the record of past climate changes and the dynamics of the climate system; social scientists are investigating the human impacts of climate change, as well as opportunities for mitigation and adaptation; and scholars in the humanities are exploring historical perspectives on climate, the epistemology of climate science, the politics of the global warming debate, and ethical dimensions of climate change. This course will engage with historical, philosophical, political and sociological dimensions of climate and climate change. Historical perspectives will receive particular attention, as will the epistemology of climate science.

Specific Topics: Climate and climate change: the scientific basis Historical perspectives on climate change: Enlightenment to 1900 Historical perspectives on climate change: The twentieth century Not just average weather: climate as agency and lived experience A molecular biography of CO2 Fixing the sky: the quest to control climate Chaos and climate prediction Is climate change real? Models, measurement and the construction of global climate datasets Simulation and understanding in the study of weather and climate The costs of climate change: the debate over discounting  Science for policy: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Debating climate change: consensus, doubt and proof in science Precaution and policy: ethical dimensions of climate change Uncertainty about future climate change: experts and ownership

Cost of the program: EUR 880,–

Lodging in student dormitories is available at approximately EUR 350,– for the whole duration of the course.

Applicants should submit:

• A short educational curriculum vitae
• A list of most recent courses and grades or a copy of your diplomas
• A one-page statement (in English), briefly outlining your previous work and your reason for attending the VISU-SWC
• A (sealed) letter of recommendation from your professor, including some comment on your previous work. This letter may also be sent directly by your professor.
• A passport photo

Please make sure that all documents arrive in time because we can process only complete applications. Please send the application form, available on our web site http://www.univie.ac.at/ivc/VISU, in advance.

To participate mastering English on a high level is required.

Application deadline: January 31, 2013 (Later applications may be considered if space is still available.) A letter of admission together with a detailed syllabus will reach successful applicants by mid-February, 2013 . 

The administration of VISU-SWC at the University of Vienna can assist the candidates admitted in applying for funds and in the accreditation of the course, but unfortunately, cannot offer financial assistance. However, for a few gifted applicants who can demonstrate that, despite serious documented efforts, they have not been able to obtain any financial support, in particular due to economic difficulties in their own country, a tuition waiver grant, awarded by the Institute Vienna Circle and the University of Vienna, will be provided.

Applications should be sent to Professor Friedrich Stadler, Institute Vienna Circle University Campus, Spitalgasse 2–4, Court 1, Entrance 1.13 A-1090 Vienna, Austria

For further inquiries, please send email to [email protected] or consult the IVC's Web site: