This conference brings together scientists and philosophers to explore the concepts of agency and individuality\, two of the most fundamental and contested ideas across the life sciences\, philosophy\, and the physical sciences. Participants will examine how entities come to count as individuals and how agency emerges or is attributed at different levels of organization\, from cells and organisms to collectives and social groups. The conference offers an interdisciplinary space where scientific and philosophical perspectives meet to rethink how we understand individuals and agents.
\nIf you would like to attend as a listener\, please write to: \;jan.czarnecki@doctoral.uj.edu.pl
\nThe schedule:
\nTuesday\, 14 April
\n09:50&ndash\;10:00 &mdash\; Welcome
\n10:00&ndash\;11:00 &mdash\; Javier Suá\;rez (University of Oviedo)
&ldquo\;Agency\, Capabilities and the Body Plan: The Case of Fungal Agency&rdquo\;
11:00&ndash\;12:00 &mdash\; Jana &Scaron\;vorcová\; (Charles University)
&ldquo\;Evolving by Norms\, Habits\, and Creativity: A Bio-Philosophical Perspective on Organismal Evolution&rdquo\;
12:00&ndash\;13:00 &mdash\; J. Arvid Å\;gren (Case Western Reserve University &\; Cleveland Clinic Research)
\n&ldquo\;The Paradox of the Organism&rdquo\;
\n13:00&ndash\;14:00 &mdash\; Lunch Break
\n14:00&ndash\;15:00 &mdash\; Joanna Malinowska (Adam Mickiewicz University)
&ldquo\;Racialisation\, Individuation\, and Episodic Collective Agency&rdquo\;
15:00&ndash\;16:00 &mdash\; Guglielmo Militello (University of Bordeaux &\; CNRS / Paris 1 Panthé\;on-Sorbonne University)
&ldquo\;Functional Integration: A Theoretical Enquiry into the Biological Unit of the Individual&rdquo\;
Wednesday\, 15 April
\n10:00&ndash\;11:00 &mdash\; Zofia Prokop (Jagiellonian University)
&ldquo\;Emergent Strategies to Mend the World Broken by Being Reduced ad Absurdum &ndash\; An Angry Biologist&rsquo\;s Perspective&rdquo\;
11:00&ndash\;12:00 &mdash\; Jan Czarnecki (Jagiellonian University)
&ldquo\;Is Life Inherently Agential\, or Is Agency Not Enough About Living? A Sketch of an Agency-First Theory of Life&rdquo\;
12:00&ndash\;13:00 &mdash\; Jan Baedke (Ruhr University)
&ldquo\;Why Organisms Are Different Agents than Other Biological Individuals&rdquo\;
13:00&ndash\;14:00 &mdash\; Lunch Break
\n14:00&ndash\;15:00 &mdash\; Thomas Mü\;ller (University of Konstanz)
&ldquo\;Agency as an Emergent Physical Phenomenon&rdquo\;
15:00&ndash\;16:00 &mdash\; Tomasz Placek (Jagiellonian University)
&ldquo\;What Memory for an Agent?&rdquo\;
Thursday\, 16 April
\n10:00&ndash\;11:00 &mdash\; Gianmaria Dani (KU Leuven)
&ldquo\;On Individuality\, Agency\, and Behavior&rdquo\;
11:00&ndash\;12:00 &mdash\; Ciprian Jeler (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași)
&ldquo\;Selective Paths and the Units of Selection&rdquo\;
12:00&ndash\;13:00 &mdash\; Pierrick Bourrat (Macquarie University)
&ldquo\;Agency\, Goal-Directedness\, and the Levels of Biological Organisation&rdquo\;
13:00&ndash\;14:00 &mdash\; Lunch Break
\n14:00&ndash\;15:00 &mdash\; Mariano Martí\;n-Villuendas (Complutense University of Madrid)
&ldquo\;Tensions in Biological Individuality: A Metascientific Diagnose&rdquo\;
15:00&ndash\;16:00 &mdash\; Adrian Stencel (Jagiellonian University)
Who Controls the Holobiont? Agency\, Symbiosis\, and Control
The book of abstracts: TBA
ORGANIZER;CN=Adrian Stencel;CN=Jan Czarnecki: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260408T013837Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260615T230000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260615T230000 SUMMARY:Workshop “Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics” UID:20260408T014617Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-f5d4878dd-r5qzs TZID:Europe/Warsaw LOCATION:Grodzka 52\, Kraków\, Poland DESCRIPTION:Workshop &ldquo\;Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics&rdquo\;\, 22nd-23rd \;of September 2026
\n\nInstitute of Philosophy\, Jagiellonian University\, \;
\nGrodzka 52\, Krakó\;w\, Poland
\n\nThe workshop &ldquo\;Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics&rdquo\; aims to provide a forum for exchanging ideas on the replicability of randomized experiments\, such as randomized field experiments in economics\, randomized controlled trials and preclinical studies in medicine\, and psychological experiments. \;
\n\nThe workshop promotes philosophical and methodological discussions of conceptual and methodological issues in statistical analysis\, econometric modeling\, and the methodology of experimentation.
\n\n\nKeynote Speakers:
\nBarbara Osimani \;
\nSamuel Fletcher
\n\n\nExperimental results are considered reliable because\, under comparable conditions\, they are expected to yield similar outcomes. However\, this assumption has recently been challenged by numerous replication efforts that report results differing from those of the original studies in psychology\, medicine\, biology\, the social sciences\, and economics. A surprisingly large fraction of published findings have been found to be non-replicable. Replicability rates range from 11% for in vitro and in vivo preclinical research to 60-90% for clinical trials. Experimental economists fall within this range and\, like psychological experimenters\, achieve around 60% replicability.
\n\nThe replication crisis has called into question the credibility of published findings and undermined trust in science. However\, \;the replication crisis\, with few exceptions\, has received only limited attention from philosophy of science. Despite the efforts of several pioneers\, the philosophical and conceptual problems in randomized controlled trials\, randomized field experiments\, laboratory experiments\, econometric modeling\, and the statistical analysis of experimental data remain largely uncharted territory in the philosophy of science. The workshop aims to establish a forum for exchanging ideas among philosophers of medicine and economics\, philosophers of statistics\, and methodologically inclined researchers interested in the conceptual problems of the replication crisis. \;
\n\nThe Workshop &ldquo\;Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics&rdquo\; invites contributions that focus on experimentation and statistical analysis in economics and medicine\, as well as problems that trouble statistical inference from experiments\, broadly construed. \;
\n\nSome exemplary topics of talks:
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;The design of randomized experiments in medicine and economics.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Statistical hypothesis testing.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Non-frequentist approaches to comparing treatment and control group outcomes.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Comparisons of design-based and model-based inference.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Estimating statistical models.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Measuring replication success and replicability rates.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Assessing the quality of empirical evidence.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Making inferences from the literature review with conflicting results.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Other problems in philosophy of statistics related to the replication crisis.
\n\nAbstracts no longer than 500 words (including references) should be submitted in an attachment\, \;not \;including author details\, by email with the subject &lsquo\;replication workshop&rsquo\; sent to: \;mariusz.maziarz@uj.edu.pl. \;
\n\nDeadline for submission: June 1st\, 2026
\nDecisions will be announced by June 15th\, 2026.
\n\n\nThis activity was supported by a grant funded by the Strategic Program Excellence Initiative at the Jagiellonian University
\n\n\n\n ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260408T013837Z DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260721T090000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260724T170000 SUMMARY:ISOS Social Ontology 2026 UID:20260408T014618Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-f5d4878dd-r5qzs TZID:Europe/Warsaw LOCATION:Krupnicza 33a\, Kraków\, Poland\, 31-123 DESCRIPTION:Conference dates: \;21-24.07 (i.e. we expect people to arrive on Monday 20.07 and leave Krakow on either 25.07 or 26.07)
Venue: \;Jagiellonian University\, Law and Administration Faculty new building\, ul. Krupnicza 33a [https://share.google/Fwsi8k2kndR1F5rxK]
Host: \;Jagiellonian Center for Law\, Language\, Philosophy (https://pjf.uj.edu.pl/) is the host\, in cooperation with Faculty of Law and Administration and Institute of Philosophy
Main organizers: \;Paweł Banaś and Adam Dyrda
Important deadlines:
- call for papers available/abstract submission opens: 5th of November 2025 \;
- deadline for abstract submission: 18th January 2026 [as usual\, 300-500 words]
- notification of acceptance: 15th February 2026
- registration [early]: 15th February - 31st March 2026
- registration [late]: 1st April - 30th June 2026
- the final conference program will be published no later than 7th July 2026.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Session Logistics
All concurrent sessions are either 1 hour for 2 talks or 1.5 hours for 3 talks. Chairs should begin each session at the scheduled time and aim to have each talk within the session begin when scheduled. To facilitate conference-goer planning\, chairs and speakers are advised to order the talks as on the schedule. \;
For the speakers - You are assigned a 30 minute slot\, and the time is yours to use in whatever way you feel will be most productive for your project. It is recommended (and descriptively expected) that the talk will be around 20 minutes\, leaving 10 minutes for q&\;a. Slides or a handout are of course permitted (and encouraged). Closer to the conference\, it will be communicated how slides will be facilitated\, if you plan to use them. We will not have the facility to print handouts\, but there are print shops around city centre if necessary. (Though\, be advised\, they may be closed on Monday for the bank holiday.)
Call for Abstracts
The call for abstracts is now open for Social Ontology 2026. The conference will be held in-person in Krakow\, Poland.
We invite submissions of abstracts of papers/talks suitable for 20 minute presentations. Abstracts must have 300-500 words and be prepared for anonymous review.
Use this submission link from Microsoft CMT service to submit your abstract:
https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/ISOS2026/ \;
The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses\, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.
This edition aims to focus on interdisciplinary research\, including application of ideas from social ontology in solving problems of legal and political philosophy in the following areas:
We invite\, however\, submissions of abstracts covering all topics relevant for contemporary research in social ontology\, including:
Workshop &ldquo\;Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics&rdquo\;\, 22nd-23rd \;of September 2026
\nInstitute of Philosophy\, Jagiellonian University\, \;
\nGrodzka 52\, Krakó\;w\, Poland
\nThe workshop &ldquo\;Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics&rdquo\; aims to provide a forum for exchanging ideas on the replicability of randomized experiments\, such as randomized field experiments in economics\, randomized controlled trials and preclinical studies in medicine\, and psychological experiments. \;
\nThe workshop promotes philosophical and methodological discussions of conceptual and methodological issues in statistical analysis\, econometric modeling\, and the methodology of experimentation.
\nKeynote Speakers:
\nBarbara Osimani \;
\nSamuel Fletcher
\n\nExperimental results are considered reliable because\, under comparable conditions\, they are expected to yield similar outcomes. However\, this assumption has recently been challenged by numerous replication efforts that report results differing from those of the original studies in psychology\, medicine\, biology\, the social sciences\, and economics. A surprisingly large fraction of published findings have been found to be non-replicable. Replicability rates range from 11% for in vitro and in vivo preclinical research to 60-90% for clinical trials. Experimental economists fall within this range and\, like psychological experimenters\, achieve around 60% replicability.
\nThe replication crisis has called into question the credibility of published findings and undermined trust in science. However\, \;the replication crisis\, with few exceptions\, has received only limited attention from philosophy of science. Despite the efforts of several pioneers\, the philosophical and conceptual problems in randomized controlled trials\, randomized field experiments\, laboratory experiments\, econometric modeling\, and the statistical analysis of experimental data remain largely uncharted territory in the philosophy of science. The workshop aims to establish a forum for exchanging ideas among philosophers of medicine and economics\, philosophers of statistics\, and methodologically inclined researchers interested in the conceptual problems of the replication crisis. \;
\nThe Workshop &ldquo\;Do experiments replicate? Philosophical Reflections on the Use and Misuse of Statistics and Econometrics&rdquo\; invites contributions that focus on experimentation and statistical analysis in economics and medicine\, as well as problems that trouble statistical inference from experiments\, broadly construed. \;
\nSome exemplary topics of talks:
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;The design of randomized experiments in medicine and economics.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Statistical hypothesis testing.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Non-frequentist approaches to comparing treatment and control group outcomes.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Comparisons of design-based and model-based inference.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Estimating statistical models.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Measuring replication success and replicability rates.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Assessing the quality of empirical evidence.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Making inferences from the literature review with conflicting results.
\n- \; \; \; \; \; \; \; \;Other problems in philosophy of statistics related to the replication crisis.
\nAbstracts no longer than 500 words (including references) should be submitted in an attachment\, \;not \;including author details\, by email with the subject &lsquo\;replication workshop&rsquo\; sent to: \;mariusz.maziarz@uj.edu.pl. \;
\nDeadline for submission: June 1st\, 2026
\nDecisions will be announced by June 15th\, 2026.
\nThis activity was supported by a grant funded by the Strategic Program Excellence Initiative at the Jagiellonian University
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR