Science – Ƶ Mon, 23 Oct 2017 14:49:50 +0000 en-US hourly 1 212073213 Aesthetic reflection and scientific understanding, University of Edinburgh /aesthetic-reflection-and-scientific-understanding-university-of-edinburgh/ Mon, 23 Oct 2017 14:49:50 +0000 http://british-aesthetics.org/?p=3469 Read More]]> ճScottish Aesthetics Forumis delighted to announce its next lecture:

Dr Angela Breitenbach (Cambridge)
“Aesthetic reflection and scientific understanding”
Thursday, 2 November, 2017, 4:15 – 6:00pm
Room 7.01, Dugald Stewart Building,
University of Edinburgh
The lecture is free and open to all!
Abstract:“Scientists routinely speak of the aesthetic merit of theories, proofs and explanations, often regarding the experience of beauty and elegance in science as a motivation for their work and an indication of its truth. But aesthetic judgments in science are as controversial as they are widespread. On one side, aestheticians have worried that statements about the beauty of a theory or the elegance of a proof are merely metaphorical and lack genuine aesthetic status. On the other side, philosophers of science have wondered why aesthetic concerns should play any role in the search for scientific knowledge. I address this two-fold challenge by asking how judgments of beauty could be both aesthetic and relevant for scientific enquiry. I propose an answer inspired by the Kantian idea that aesthetic experience is grounded, at least in part, in the subject’s spontaneous intellectual activities. I argue that relevant aesthetic judgments are grounded in the subject’s awareness of her creative intellectual activities in devising and grasping a theory. And I suggest that judgments of this kind may offer a heuristic tool for scientific enquiry by indicating achievements of understanding.”
Ƶ the speaker:Angela Breitenbach is a Lecturer in philosophy at King’s College at the University of Cambridge. Her work includes Kantian conceptions of aesthetics and beauty in science and mathematics, the relationship between laws and unity, causality and causal knowledge, as well as Kantian perspectives on biology and nature, among other things. Along with being a Fellow at King’s College, she’s also a ProFutura Fellow at CRASSH and a Pro Futura Scientia Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study. She’s recently done a TEDx Talk called “” which is available on YouTube.
Additional information:The lecture will be followed by a dinner with our speaker. If you would like to attend the dinner, please contact the organisers by 26 October.
***There are limited funds to cover dinner expenses for two students, offered on a first-come-first-served basis. ***
Don’t miss our upcoming events!
7 December 2017– Michael Newall (Kent) and
24 January 2018– Kathleen Stock (Sussex)
– To contact the organisers:scottishaestheticsforum@gmail.com.
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]]> 3469 CFA: Bridging the Gap: Scientific Imagination Meets Aesthetic Imagination /cfa-bridging-the-gap-scientific-imagination-meets-aesthetic-imagination-2/ Tue, 04 Jul 2017 12:59:12 +0000 http://british-aesthetics.org/?p=3278 Read More]]>

5-6 October 2017

Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science

Organisers: Fiora Salis (LSE) and Michael T. Stuart (LSE)

Sponsored by the Ƶ, the Mind Association, the Aristotelian Society, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant No 654034.

Why, how, and when do scientists imagine, and what epistemological roles does the imagination play in scientific progress? Over the past few years, many philosophical accounts have emerged that are relevant to these questions. Roman Frigg, Arnon Levy, and Adam Toon have developed theories of scientific models that place imagination at the heart of modelling practice. And James R. Brown, Tamar Gendler, James McAllister, Letitia Meynell, and Nancy Nersessian have developed theories that recognize the indispensable role of the imagination in the performance of thought experiments. On the other hand, philosophers like Michael Weisberg dismiss imagination-based views of scientific modelling as mere ‘folk ontology’, and John D. Norton seems to claim that thought experiments are arguments whose imaginary components are epistemologically irrelevant.

In this conference we turn to aesthetics for help in addressing issues concerning scientific imagination-use. Aesthetics is said to have begun in 1717 with an essay titled “The Pleasures of the Imagination” by Joseph Addison, and ever since the imagination has been what Michael Polyani called “the cornerstone of aesthetic theory”. In recent years Kendall Walton has fruitfully explored the fundamental relevance of imagination for understanding literary, visual and auditory fictions. And many others have been inspired to do the same, including Greg Currie, David Davies, Peter Lamarque, Stein Olsen, and Kathleen Stock.
This conference aims to connect work on artistic and scientific imagination, and to advance our understanding of the epistemic and heuristic roles that imagination can play. Specific topics may include:
What kinds of imagination are involved in science?
What is the relation between scientific imagination and aesthetic imagination?
What are the structure and limits of knowledge and understanding acquired through imagination?
From a methodological point of view, how can aesthetic considerations about imagination play a role in philosophical accounts of scientific reasoning?
What can considerations about scientific imagination contribute to our understanding of aesthetic imagination?
The conference will include eight invited talks and four contributed papers. Two of the four slots for contributed papers are being reserved for graduate students, each of whom will receive a travel bursary of £100.

To apply, please send an anonymised abstract of around 1000 words (including footnotes and references) and a cover letter including your name, position, affiliation, and title of your abstract to Mike Stuart (m.stuart@lse.ac.uk) by 7 July 2017.

For more information regarding the conference please contact f.salis@lse.ac.uk or m.stuart@lse.ac.uk or check the conference webpage here.

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