Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable

Annual meetings of the Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable have established a tradition of working conferences that bring together an intellectually diverse and international community of philosophers and social scientists who share an interest in philosophical questions that arise in, and about, the social sciences. It is run as an intensive workshop-style meeting; typically one or two keynote speakers are invited but all other presentations are selected from submissions received in response to an open call for extended abstracts.

The organizers are committed to a pluralist vision of philosophy of the social sciences; they welcome submissions from widely diverse areas within philosophy – epistemology, social ontology, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind and of language, action theory, and social/political theory – and encourage engagement with the whole range of social sciences, from anthropology and history, sociology and political science, to psychology, cognitive science, and economics.

The Roundtable has become a key forum for discussing foundational questions in social theory, issues raised by explanatory paradigms and theoretical presuppositions, the orienting epistemic ideals and methodologies, and the ethical and political implications of the social sciences. Each year a selection of Roundtable papers are invited for publication in an annual special issue of the journal, Philosophy of the Social Sciences.

More information about the Roundtable can be found here: https://possrt.wordpress.com/about/ 

This year's keynote speaker is: Cailin O’Connor, Professor, Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Irvine http://cailinoconnor.com/the-evolution-of-inequity/

Program for

The Philosophy of Social Science Roundtable

April 1-2, 2022

University of Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

All talks will take place at Bailey Library, Andrews Hallhttps://maps.unl.edu/images/unl_campusmaps.pdf.

All sessions will be available via Zoom, details TBA

All times are CST, UTC-6

Friday April 1

8:30-9:00

Coffee and Introductions

9:00-9:50

Samuel Maia “Thickness in the concept and measures of poverty” (virtual only)

10:00-10:50

Rosa Runhardt and Michael Daimond-Hunter “Legitimate Reactivity in Measuring Social Categories”

11:00-11:50

Kino Zhao “Measuring the non-existent: validity before measurement”

12:00-2:00

Lunch

2:00-2:50

Nadia Ruiz “Methodology (Model Diversity) and Policy Making

3:00-3:50

Daniel Saunders “Similarity-biased learning in the evolution of unfairness”

3:50-4:30

Coffee Break

4:30-6:00

Keynote: Cailin O’Connor “Measuring Conventionality”

Abstract: Standard accounts of convention include notions of arbitrariness. But many have conceived of conventionality as an all or nothing affair. In this paper, I develop a framework for thinking of conventions as coming in degrees of arbitrariness. In doing so, I introduce an information theoretic measure intended to capture the degree to which a solution to a certain social problem could have been otherwise. As the paper argues, this framework can help improve explanation aimed at the cultural evolution of social traits. Good evolutionary explanations recognize that most functional traits are also conventional, at least to some degree, and vice versa.

Dinner Reception at 6:30 p.m. at Morrill Hall for speakers and by reservation.

Saturday, April 2

9:00-9:50

 Valerii Shevchenko “Coordination as naturalized social ontology” (virtual only)

10:00-10:50

 Sahar Heydari Fard “Diversity, Networks, and Polarization”

11:00-11:50

 Richard Lauer “Social Structural Explanations as Causal Statistical Explanations”

12:00-2:00

Lunch

2:00-2:50

 August Faller “Social Causation and Holism”

3:00-3:50

David Miguel Gray “Amelioration, Normativity, and Self-Realization: Haslanger, Biko, Du Bois on Race”

4:00-4:30

Coffee Break

4:30-5:20

Rachel Cooper “An Explanatory Critique of Social-Positional Accounts of the Metaphysics of Social Categories”

For information about local accommodations [email protected]