Workshop: Inferentialism, Bayesianism, and Scientific Explanation (25 - 26 January 2017)
Idea and Motivation
What makes a given explanation successful? Many philosophers of science have tried to answer this question, but there is no consensus answer. In this workshop, we will assess the prospects of taking a novel approach to answering this question. Specifically, we will discuss whether and how an inferentialist account of explanation can be combined with Bayesian resources to deliver an adequate account of scientific explanation. This involves assessing not only whether the inferentialist can capture aspects of explanation that are often thought to resist Bayesian treatment (e.g., Inference to the Best Explanation and the asymmetry of explanation), but also whether inferentialism avoids problems that are thought to plague ontic accounts of explanation (e.g., an untenable insensitivity to contextual and pragmatic factors). Since it may not be entirely clear what the commitments of the inferentialist are in the context of scientific explanation, we likewise hope to consider what exactly it means to be an inferentialist about explanation.
Organization
The workshop is organized by Lorenzo Casini (Geneva/MCMP), Stephan Hartmann (LMU/MCMP), Reuben Stern (LMU/MCMP) and Marcel Weber (Geneva).
Speakers
- Lorenzo Casini
- Igor Douven
- Ben Eva
- Julian Reiss
- Alexander Reutlinger
- Jan Sprenger
- Reuben Stern
- John Williamson
Program
Day 1 (25 January 2017)
Time | Event |
---|---|
09:15 - 09:45 | Registration |
09:45 - 10:00 | Welcome and Opening |
10:00 - 11:00 | Jon Williamson: "Inferentialism and Causal Explanation" |
11:00 - 12:00 | Julian Reiss: "The Goodness of a Causal Explanation" |
12:00 - 13:30 | Lunch |
13:30 - 14:30 | Reuben Stern: "Causation, Explanation, and Context" |
14:30 - 15:30 | Ben Eva and Reuben Stern: "Causal Explanatory Strength" |
15:30 - 16:00 | Coffee Break |
16:00 - 17:00 | Jan Sprenger: "Stalnaker's Hypothesis: A Causal Account" |
17:00 - 18:00 | Lorenzo Casini and Radin Dardashti: "Confirmation by Robustness Analysis: A Bayesian Account" |
20:00 | Conference Dinner |
Day 2 (26 January 2017)
Time | Event |
---|---|
10:00 - 11:00 | Alex Reutlinger: "Is the Counterfactual Theory of Explanation an Epistemic Account?" |
11:00 - 12:00 | Carsten Held: "The Counterfactual Theory of Explanation and Explanatory Asymmetry" |
12:00 - 13:30 | Lunch |
13:30 - 14:30 | Jared Millson, Kareem Khalifa, and Mark Risjord: "Explanatory Asymmetry and Inferentialist Expressivism" |
14:30 - 15:30 | Borut Trpin and Max Pellert: "Inference to the Best Explanation in Cases of Uncertain Evidence" |
15:30 - 16:00 | Coffee Break |
16:00 - 17:00 | Igor Douven: "Inference to the Best Explanation and the Relevance of the Closest Competitor" |
Venue
Internationales Begegnungszentrum der Wissenschaft München e.V.
Amalienstraße 38
80799 München