Scientific committee:
Thierry Libert (ULB), Pierre Marage (ULB), Patricia Radelet (UCL), Jan Roegiers (KUL),
Organizing committee:
Program:
9h: Registration
9h30: Welcome
9h45-10h45: Plenary lecture by Stathis Psillos, Empiricist Conceptions of Laws of Nature [abstract]
Coffee break
11h15-12h15: Plenary lecture by Dominique Pestre, History of Science Today
Lunch break
14h-15h30: Contributed papers
Coffee break
16h-17h30: Contributed papers
9h-10h30: Contributed papers
Coffee break
11h-12h30: Contributed papers
Lunch break
14h15-15h15: Plenary lecture by Hannes Leitgeb, Logic and Probability [abstract]
Coffee break
15h45-16h45: Plenary lecture by Isabelle Stengers, Science: between History and Logic
Plenary lectures:
Stathis Psillos, Empiricist Conceptions of Laws of Nature:
This paper offers a framework for empiricist conceptions of laws of
nature based on the following three negative principles that have been
entertained by empiricists.
A. There is no necessity in nature; no necessary connections between distinct existences.
B. There are no universals as distinct from classes of resembling particulars.
C. There are no powers as distinct from their manifestations.
These principles place important constraints on what laws are not and
what they can be. After discussing them, the paper focuses on the
strengths and weaknesses of the Mill-Ramsey-Lewis approach to lawhood.
Hannes Leitgeb, Logic and Probability:
We will deal with ways of studying and applying probability theory from a logical point of view. On the probabilistic side, this leads us to an investigation of (unary) absolute probability measures and (binary) conditional probability measures on propositional or first-order languages. In particular, we will show (i) how the standard axioms of probability may be justified in terms of "closeness to the truth", (ii) how logical truth can be pinned down by purely probabilistic means, (iii) how conditional probability measures on formulas may be represented as limits of ratios of absolute probability measures on formulas, (iv) what a probabilistic semantics for conditional logic looks like, (v) how a probabilistic theory of truth for semantically closed languages can be developed, and finally (vi) how models for higher-order probabilities, probabilistic reflection principles, and type-free probability can be constructed.
- Logic:
- Salima Djerrah (UCL): Le principe de contradiction est-il un principe logique ?
- Laurent Dubois (ULB): Lambda Theory
- Jan Heylen (KUL): Carnapian Arithmetic with Descriptions
- Hans Lycke (UGent): The Adaptive Logics Approach to Abduction
- Julien Maréchal (UCL): How to Contextualize: Some Simple, Some Complicated Ways
- Francesca Poggiolesi (VUB): Two Cut-free Sequent Calculi for Modal Logic S5
- Giuseppe Primiero (UGent): Constructive Modalities for Information
- Sébastien Richard (ULB): The Problem of the Formalisation of Husserl's Theory of Parts and Wholes
- Damien Servais (UCL): Les cardinaux ambigus
- Dunja Seselja (UGent): An Adaptive Logic Framework for Abstract Argumentation
- Christian Strasser (UGent): An Adaptive Logic for Conditional Obligations and Deontic Dilemmas
- Philosophy of Science:
- Isabelle Drouet (UGent): Probabilistic Theories and Levels of Causality
- Steffen Ducheyne (UGent): Kant and Whewell on Bridging Principles between Metaphysics and Science
- Nathalie Gontier (VUB): The Representational Approach in Language Origin Studies
- Nathanaël Laurent (FUNDP): Critical Approach of the Notion of Function and Attempt to Redefine the Limits of the Knowledge of the Living Beings
- Bert Leuridan (UGent): The IARC, Mechanistic Evidence and the Precautionary Principle
- Agnieszka Rostalska (UGent/University of Gdansk): Modal Logic & Philosophy: a case study - Swinburne's modal argument for the existence of souls
- Federica Russo (UCL): Variational Causal Claims in Epidemiology
- Rafał Urbaniak (UGent): Capturing Dynamic Conceptual Frames
- Arne Vangheluwe (UCL): Miracles in an Essentialist Perspective
- History of Science:
- Liesbeth De Mol (UGent): Man-computer interaction. An analysis of what it was, is and could be
- Ronny Desmet (VUB): Minkowski's Influence on Whitehead
- Astrid Elbers (UGent): Experiments in Descartes' Les Météores
- Sandra Mols (FUNDP): Disseminating electronics: Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company and the emergence of electronic computing research in Belgium
- Sébastien Moureau (UCL): The "De anima in arte alchemiae" of Pseudo-Avicenna
- Jurgen Naets (KUL): How to define a number? A general epistemological account of Simon Stevins (1548-1620) art of defining
- Sylvie Neven (ULg): The Strasbourg Family Text : mediaeval artists’recipes books as sources for historical study of art technology
- Sofie Onghena (KUL): De wetenschapper als publieke weldoener Beeldvorming van Belgische Provinciale Instituten voor Bacteriologie (ca. 1900-1940)
- Eva Pieters (UGent): "Clear moon, frost soon": A comparative study of meteorological pratices in the Low Countries (1550-1850)
- Raffaella Toncelli (ULB): Geometry and the Theory of Relativity
This event is supported by:
- De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten (KVAB)
- L'Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique (ARB)
- Les Groupes de contact du FNRS en Histoire comparée des sciences et en Logique mathématique