'What is Ontic Structural Realism?'

James Ladyman (University of Bristol), Claudio Calosi (Université de Genève)

What is Ontic Structural Realism? James Ladyman (Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bristol) will give an online talk presenting an original view on this issue on February 25 at 6pm (CET). The talk will be chaired by Claudio Calosi (Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Geneva, Visiting Professor at the MAP).

Title of the talk: 'What is Ontic Structural Realism?'

The talk will be held on Zoom. To receive the link to the Zoom meeting, you can either send a message to our Facebook page or write an email to [email protected]. Join us!

Have a look at the abstract of the talk: Ontic structural realism (OSR) began as an interpretation of Worrall’s proposal for a structural form of scientific realism compatible with the problem of theory change. Ladyman (1998) argues that construed metaphysically structural realism is also able to take account of issues of identity and individuality in quantum physics and general relativity. Different authors have taken up the idea of OSR in different ways. For some, such as Esfeld and Lam (2008) it is a view about the ontology of physics only. For French (2014) its implications for the ontology of the special sciences are eliminativist. On the other hand, Ladyman and Ross (2007) use ontic structural realism as the basis for realism about science beyond physics. This paper sets out the core components of different forms of ontic structural realism, and the arguments for them. It is argued that the form of OSR defended by Ladyman and Ross offers a unified picture of the ontologies of the sciences.

This talk is part of the Lugano Philosophy Colloquia - a series of events organized by:

- Master in Philosophy at USI
- Ratio – philosophical association
- Istituto di Studi Filosofici, Lugano