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Origins of the YRD

Over the past decade, science studies have enjoyed an unprecedented success in Belgium. Researchers from philosophy, history, literature, and sociology departments have fostered a healthy research tradition in Logic, History and Philosophy of Science. This tradition is carried out at several universities of the Francophone and Flemish communities. The Vrije Universiteit Brussel has played a major rôle in the organization of the YRD in the past.

Since 2008, these researchers have shaped an interdisciplinary forum for PhD-students working in the broad domain of science studies. These Young Researchers Days in Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science (henceforth YRD) are organised under the aegis of the National Committee for Logic, History and Philosophy of Science (NCLGFW) and the Belgian Society for Logic and Philosophy of Science (BSLPS), and have consistently been a success, easily attracting between 20 and 30 doctoral students.

Format of the workshop

The workshop will be based on 3 plenary lectures of 1 hour illustrating new trends in Logic, History of Science and Philosophy of Science, on the one hand, and on presentation sessions of young researchers' work in this broad field, on the other. Each such session will also incorporate discussion of the research of the participating students. The young researchers will have 20 minutes for their presentations which will be followed by a Q&A of 10 minutes.

Keynote speakers

Dominique Pestre

Dominique Pestre is one of the foremost European historians of science. He is Director of Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). He has recently edited the multivolume Histoire des sciences et des savoirs (2015), and works mostly on the history of twentieth-century science and technology, particularly in relation to social, political, economic, and military power. Title: 'Between knowledge and power. Turning the environment into economy, 1970-2010'.

Abstract: The economization of environment is a program that started in the 1970s and that became the main way to frame the economics/ecology question in most countries and international organizations. Taking OECD as a privileged space of observation, I intend to show how notions of Environment and Economization were both matters of debate, how different conceptualizations and interests led to various tools and expert work – but also why they directly led us to the quite disastrous Anthropocene situation today.

Omar Nasim

Omar W. Nasim is lecturer at the School of History of the University of Kent, joined Kent from the University of Oxford, where he remains a research affiliate at the Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH). Dr. Nasim has published widely in a number of international journals. Along with a number of co-edited works, he has also published two monographs: Bertrand Russell and the Edwardian Philosophers: Constructing the World (Palgrave MacMillan, 2008); and more recently, Observing by Hand: Sketching the Nebulae in the Nineteenth Century (Univ. Chicago Press, 2013). Title: 'Producing scientific knowledge by drawing: 19th-century sketches of nebulae'

Abstract: Today we are all familiar with the iconic pictures of the nebulae produced by the Hubble Space Telescope’s digital cameras. But there was a time, before the successful application of photography to the heavens, in which scientists had to rely on handmade drawings of these mysterious phenomena. During my presentation I will shed light on the ways in which the production and reception of hand-drawn images of the nebulae in the nineteenth century contributed to astronomical observation. I will examine the ways in which the act of drawing complemented the acts of seeing and knowing, as well as the ways that making pictures was connected to the production of scientific knowledge.

Ole Hjortland

Ole Hjortland is an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. His research is on logic and rationality. What makes an argument a good argument? What does it mean to think and act rationally? Are there universal norms for good reasoning? In 2016-2020 Hjortland is the Principal Investigator of a project on the philosophy of logic, funded by the Norwegian Research Council. He is an Associate Fellow of Arché Research Centre, University of St Andrews, and the Munich Centre for Mathematical Philosophy, LMU Munich. Hjortland serves on the editorial board of the Norwegian Journal of Philosophy and Ergo: an open access journal of philosophy. Title: 'What Validity cannot be'

Abstract: Anti-exceptionalism is the claim that Logic isn’t special. Its theories are continuous with science; its method continuous with scientific method. Logic is not a priori, nor are its truths analytic truths. Logical theories are revisable, and when they are revised, they are revised on the same grounds as scientific theories. The hypothesis that knowledge of logic is obtained by a non-apriori, abductive method, leads to the sub-hypothesis that this abductive method supports non-classical logic. Now the question arises of what logical validity can and what it cannot be in such an anti-exceptionalist frame.'

Target audience

As we have learned from previous editions, the YRD are relevant to young researchers active in the fields of:

• Science Studies
• Environmental History
• History of Science
• Literature
• Logic
• Philosophy of Science
• History of Philosophy

Competences

The attending young researchers will:

• be familiarized with the state of the art in Logic, Philosophy of Science and History of Science by the presentations by the keynote speakers
• be able to sharpen their presentation and Q&A skills
• be able to expand their intellectual horizons by interacting with other young scholars active in the broad field of Science Studies;
• be able to train their networking skills
• be able to train their abstract writing skills.

Prior knowledge required: Not applicable.

Content

See the information provided in the section 'detailed format of the activity', especially points 2-5.
Language used in seminar: English

Study material

Not applicable.

Condition(s) for attribution of credits

This course comprises 16 to 18 hours of active participation.
Maximum number of participants: 30. We will guarantee that at least 50 percent of the young researchers on the final programme are PhD students.
Credits: 1

All information and registrations by sending an email to Steffen Ducheyne