Michael Anderson (U of Western Ontario): Neural reuse and dynamic structure-function relationships in the brain
Seminar
I this talk I outline the evidence for the dynamic multi-functionality of the various parts of the brain, and use it to put pressure on the leading account of scientific explanation in the neurosciences, Craver-Bechtel componential mechanistic explanation. Then, via a case-study of Starbust…
Melissa Fusco: Splicing With Death
Seminar
Recent literature on causal decision theory (CDT) has featured much discussion of what Hare & Hedden call ``decision dependence''---the fact that, for a causalist, the expected utility of an act a can sometimes depend on how confident one is that one will perform a. This is widely seen as…
Andy Egan (Rutgers): Expressivism, Truth-Conditions, and the Project of Semantics
Other
There is a "production-first" way of thinking about the project of semantics - in particular, about what it is for a sentence to have truth-conditions - that makes expressivism seem at least very puzzling, and more likely impossible or incoherent. I'll look at an anti-expressivist argument from…
Design Principles for Evolvability: Re-Use Across the Sciences
Workshop
The Centre for Philosophy of the Sciences, School of Philosophy, ANU presents"Design Principles for Evolvability: Re-Use Across the Sciences". Change in complex systems often involves the re-use of pre-existing materials. The acquisition of print-reading in humans, for example, involves the…
CPS/RSB joint seminar: Ben Kerr: Altruistic moves inside spiteful games - The ecology and evolution of bacterial toxins
Seminar
Nearly every major bacterial lineage studied to date possesses strains that produce protein-based toxins that are thought to function as anti-competitor compounds. Toxin production occurs stochastically and often involves lysis of the producing cell. Such lysis can be seen as a form of indirect…
Anne Barnhill (U Penn): (When) is public health messaging manipulative?
Seminar
Some public heath messaging goes beyond providing health information in a neutral way, but rather is graphic, is meant to shock us, is meant to be visually arresting, or is meant to cause negative emotions like fear or disgust. This public health messaging has been called manipulative. …
Cailin O'Connor (UCI): Evolving Collaborative Networks
Seminar
Philosophers of science have recently argued that the structure of scientific networks matters to scientific progress. But where do these networks come from? In this talk, I discuss how social norms of collaboration and resource division might influence scientists' choices about who to…