Dear All
This Wed 25 Mar in The Refectory, from 3.30 to 5,30, we introduce
another new arrival to the department: Chris Eliot.
Chris is working in the philosophy of ecology, and to that end we will
hear
Competition Theory's Lawless Explanations
Here's an abstract:
Explanatory theory in a range of disciplines has been thought
frustrated by their ignorance of laws. Options open to philosophers
trying to defend their explanatory capabilities have included (a)
defending the substantiveness of ceteris paribus-qualified
generalizations, (b) identifying `laws' as something other than true,
necessary generalizations, and (c) embracing a metaphysics including
explanatory features like capacities. Earman & Roberts rebut option
(a), concluding that disciplines like ecology, economics, and
meteorology need better science, not philosophers. But, curious about
how explanations are offered without waiting for such `better'
science, I notice and characterize an approach to mechanistic
explanation in ecology (specifically, describing succession via
resource-competition) which does not depend on explanatory laws. I
employ it to argue against Marcel Weber in particular, as he has
treated the same body of theory as explaining via (Waters-style)
causal regularities.
As usual, there will be be a pre-talk or graduate students and other
interested parties, in which the background to the talk will be
covered. Graduate students are strongly encouraged to attend,
especially if they are working in different areas from the talk, as
this is the chance to get some breadth so that you'll be able to truly
claim some diversity in your graduate education, and get it from
leading international philosophers.
The Pre-Talk takes place at 2PM in the Philosophy Common Room.
cheers
d
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