We are very happy to announce a new group, the ‘Society for the Metaphysics of Science’, (unsurprisingly) devoted to the ‘metaphysics of science’.

We would like to invite anyone interested to join the group and also to attend our upcoming sessions at the Pacific and Central APA Conferences. The website for the Society can be found here:

http://www.centenary.edu/philosophy/aizawa/Society-for-the-Metaphysics-of-Science

The website contains an overview of the ‘metaphysics of science’ and its issues, the goals of the group, upcoming events, and the organizing committee and members, amongst other information.

In addition, we would also like to draw your attention to our upcoming sessions, whose details are pasted below, where we have some exciting presentations in the area.

We hope to see you in San Francisco or Chicago,

Cheers, Ken Aizawa, Carl Gillett and Rob Wilson

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AT THE PACFIC APA, SAN FRANCISCO (April 3rd-8th)

SESSION - Thursday April 5th

GIV-D. Society for the Metaphysics of Science
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Location: See Conference Program

Chair: Robert A. Wilson (University of Alberta)

Title: “Mechanisms, Modularity, and Natural Kinds”
Speaker: Carl Craver (Washington University in St. Louis)
Title: “The New Functionalism”
Speaker: Karen Neander (Duke University)

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AT THE CENTRAL APA, CHICAGO (April 18th-21st)

SESSION I – Thursday April 19th

GII-8. Society for the Metaphysics of Science
Thu 5:15- 7:15,
Location: Private Dining Room 8

Topic: Mechanistic Understanding in the Sciences
Chair: Carl Gillett (Illinois Wesleyan University)

Title: “Inferring to Things Unobserved: Historical Notes”
Speaker: Ernan McMullin (University of Notre Dame)
Title: “Modeling Counterfactual Interventions”
Speaker: Jonathan Waskan (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

SESSION II – Friday April 20th

GIV-5. Society for the Metaphysics of Science
Fri 7:00-10:00,
Location: Private Dining Room 5

Topic: The Investigation of Concepts: Getting Out of the Armchair?
Chair: TBA

Title: “Conceptual Analysis: A Two-Step Program”
Speaker: Andrew Melnyk (University of Missouri-Columbia)
Title: “Intuitions about Agency: Experimental Approaches”
Speaker: Shaun Nichols (University of Arizona)