Tuomas E. Tahko (University of Helsinki): Where Do You Get Your Protein? Or: Biochemical Realization
Other
Biochemical kinds such as proteins pose interesting problems for philosophers of science. They can be studied both from the point of view of biology and chemistry, but these different perspectives may result in different classificatory practices. I will examine the tension that such classificatory…
Heather Browning (ANU): Validating scientific indicators – a robustness approach
Other
Much of science involves measurement of objects or states of the world. Often instead of direct measurement, scientists employ the use of indicators, or surrogate measures, changes in which are assumed to reflect changes in the target state. This leads to the problem of validation – ensuring that…
Jensen Sass (UC): Ritual Deliberation: The Value of a Non-Ideal Practice
Other
Deliberation based on the exchange of arguments and reasons is standardly regarded as a rational process par excellence, one that invites actors to reflect on and revise their beliefs, preferences, and perhaps even values. Yet in political deliberation actors routinely talk past one another. They…
Declan Smithies (OSU): Affective Experience, Reasons for Action, and Desire
Other
What is the role of affective experience in explaining how desires provide us with reasons for action? When we desire that p, we are disposed to feel attracted to the prospect that p, and to feel averse to the prospect that not p. In this paper, we argue that these affective experiences – feelings…
Lachlan Walmsley (ANU): How climate simulations earn their credentials
Other
Climate models are complicated things. Their construction often begins with off-the-shelf physical equations, but these equations are always approximated, and typically the approximation is rough. For us to trust a climate model and its results, it must earn its credentials. There are at least two…
Suzy Killmister (UCONN): Dignity for the Cognitively Disabled
Other
Many theories of dignity - including one I've defended myself - have the unpalatable implication that individuals with severe cognitive disabilities lack dignity. Since dignity is commonly taken to be the feature in virtue of which individuals are owed basic forms of respect, this implication is…
Living Ethically in the 21st Century - Philosophy and Public Policy Lecture Series
Lecture
To live ethically in the 21st century as a citizen of an affluent country like Australia, it is not, Peter Singer contends, enough to abide by conventional moral rules which tell us not to do certain things. The world has changed, and our responsibilities have also changed accordingly. He will…