CALL FOR PAPERS

3^rd ​ ​IU Graduate Student Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine

29^th and 30^th March, 2019

Indiana University Bloomington

Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine

Submission Deadline: January 1^st, 2019

The Indiana University Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine and HPS Graduate Students Association are calling for submissions from graduate students working on topics relating to the history and/or philosophy of science for its third graduate student conference in the spring of 2019. Submissions are welcome on a breadth of historical or philosophical topics in the sciences. This conference is intended to be an opportunity for graduate students to share their work, make connections, and receive feedback from peers and faculty in a congenial environment. The anticipated schedule is for 30 ­minute student presentations, followed by a 10­ minute response by a student commentator, and 15­-20 minutes for follow­-up questions and discussion. There will also be a poster session reception intended to facilitate discussion, particularly suited to works in their early stages of progress, ideas on new methodologies or tools in HPS, or novel ways of extending HPS into the public sphere.

Submissions:​ Please submit papers or extended outlines suitable for a 30 minute talk, or an abstract or description (~250 words) of a topic for a poster. Dual submissions for talks and posters (on related or unrelated topics) are allowed. E­mail submissions to iuhpsconf@gmail.com on or before January 1st. Acceptances will be sent out in early February.

All graduate students are welcome to attend. If you are planning to attend and would be interested in commenting, please email us with areas of interest by January 1st, and, depending on availability, we will send you an appropriate paper to comment on as soon as acceptances are issued.

Conference Time & Place: ​March- 29-30 (half-­day Friday and full-­day Saturday), 2019, on the Indiana University campus in Bloomington.

Speaker: ​We are pleased to have Kristen K. Intemann from Montana State Unievrsity as our keynote speaker and featured faculty guest for the conference. Dr. Intemann’s research and teaching interests focus on feminist theory, values and science, and research ethics, particularly in relation to science and philosophy of science.  Also, she has published on issues related to objectivity, bias, and diversity in science. Visit the following website for additional information: http://www.montana.edu/history/people/kristen_intemann.html

Lodging and Logistics: ​Funding is not available to cover travel expenses, but we will facilitate lodging for student presenters with graduate student hosts here in town on a first-­come, first-­served basis. Hotels in Bloomington are also quite reasonably priced, and we’ll be glad to provide recommendations for those who wish to make their own arrangements. For questions or further details, please contact us at iuhpsconf@gmail.com or see our website at http://iuhpsgraduateconference.blogspot.com.

Keynote Speaker: Anjan Chakravartty

Reasoned Scientific Disagreement and Permissive Rationality

Abstract:
Even among those whom we might regard as epistemic peers, scientists often disagree. Some philosophers hold that given some evidence and assuming epistemic peerage, there is only one rational option regarding what scientists should believe. Thus, either there is significant irrationality in scientific practice, or the uniqueness thesis is false. I distinguish two cases for thinking about this: relatively transient disagreement (RTD) and relatively stable disagreement (RSD). I suggest that in cases of RTD, disagreement is often better characterized in terms of things like contrary hopes, best bets, and heuristic commitments than in terms of contrary beliefs per se. In cases of RSD, I suggest that disagreement does not generally take the form of contrary beliefs but rather juxtapositions of belief and agnosticism, which are indicative of underlying commitments that are not themselves propositional or evidential but that are nonetheless rational. The upshot is the falseness of the uniqueness thesis and a moderately permissive conception of rationality appropriate to scientific disagreement.

Time: 4:30 – 6:00 pm  

Location: Social Science Research Center, Woodburn Hall

HPS Graduate Conference Preliminary Program

Thanks to all for their submissions!  We're glad to announce the preliminary program for the upcoming conference.  

Friday, March 23th

1:00 – 3:50 pm  Graduate Student Talks

Location: Room 143, Geology Building

Talks are 30-minutes in length, followed by commentary and Q&A time, with a short break before the following talk.  

1:00 pm, Samuel Fajerstein, Indiana University

A Microprocess of Stalinization, 1928-1930: The Transformation of Puti sel'skogo khoziaistva and the 'Army of Soviet Agronomists'
Commentator: Evan Arnet

2:00 pm, Joseph Baxley, University of Notre Dame

A New Look at the Anonymous Parisian Master's Guide in Ripoll 109
Commentator: Meagan Allen

3:00 pm, JP Gamboa, University of Pittsburgh

Pain and Emotion upon Decerebration: Sherrington as a Historical Outlier
Commentator: Luma Melo

4:30 – 6:00 pm  Keynote Speech by Anjan Chakravartty

Location: Social Science Research Center, Woodburn Hall

6:30 – 8:00 pm  Reception and Discussion/Poster Session

Location: Social Science Research Center, Woodburn Hall

Saturday, March 24^th

8:00 am  Light Breakfast Fare

Location: Social Science Research Center, Woodburn Hall

9:00 - 11:50 am  Graduate Student Talks

Location: Social Science Research Center, Woodburn Hall

Talks are 30-minutes in length, followed by commentary and Q&A time, with a short break before the following talk. 

9:00 am, Patrick Tiffany, Indiana University

Do Athenians Dream of Poisoned Water: Water, Wells, and The Great Plague of Athens
Commentator: Brenton Wells

10:00 am, Joshua Barthuly, University of Notre Dame

Dispositional Essentialism Laws and Structural Complexity

 Commentator: Ali Mirza

11:00 am, Mousa Mohammadian, University of Notre Dame

From Peirce’s Abduction to Lipton’s Inference to the Best Explanation: How Two Historical Developments Fill the Gap
Commentator: Ryan O’Loughlin

12:00 noon – 2:00 pm  Lunch Break (lunch on own)

2:00 – 4:50 pm  Graduate Student Talks

Location: Social Science Research Center, Woodburn Hall

Talks are 30-minutes in length, followed by commentary and Q&A time, with a short break before the following talk. 

2:00 pm, Qiu Lin, Duke University

The Epistemic Status of False Assumptions in Scientific Idealization
Commentator: Becca Jackson, Ryan O’Loughlin

3:00 pm, Teresa Jackson, Indiana University

A Closer Look at the "Ghosts" of the Sex Workers in the USPHS Conducted Guatemalan Syphilis Experiments
Commentator: Chris ChoGlueck

4:00 pm, Samuel Hall, University of Notre Dame

Fixing Evidence and the Problems of Underdetermination
Commentator: Justin Slattery

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JANUARY 15TH, 2018

Many thanks to those of you who have already sent in your submissions for this conference! The conference submission deadline for papers and posters has been extended to January 15th (at midnight) to give more time to those that wanted to submit but were delayed or unable to meet the previous deadline.