Interdisciplinarity and Philosophy of Science

International Workshop on
Interdisciplinarity and Philosophy of Science

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Science has always been an interdisciplinary pursuit, but a number of (sometimes unrelated) factors seem to be increasing the pace at which interdisciplinarity is required in science. These factors can be endogenous, like the increasing complexity of experiments, or exogenous, like advances in the potential of digital technologies. Interdisciplinarity presents interesting challenges and opportunities for scientists, and many philosophers of science are now helping scientists to explore these. To do this, philosophers of science are finding it increasingly necessary to become more interdisciplinary themselves. In the process, they are presented with some of the same challenges and opportunities faced by scientists. This workshop will reflect on the increasing interdisciplinarity of both science and its study.

Workshop Information

DAY 1

Speaker: Nancy Nersessian
Regents’ Professor of Cognitive Science (Emerita), Georgia Institute of Technology
Research Associate in Psychology, Harvard University

Date: December 6th, Monday, 8:00-11:00 Taiwan/December 5th, Sunday, 19:00-22:00 US Eastern Time

Schedule in Different Time Zones:
8:00-9:40 (Taiwan) Talk
9:40-9:50 (Taiwan) Break Time
9:50-11:00 (Taiwan) Conversation

19:00-20:40 (US Eastern Time) Talk
20:40-20:50 (US Eastern Time) Break Time
20:50-22:00 (US Eastern Time) Conversation


Discussants (in alphabetical order):
Yin Chung Au
Assistant Professor, Department of History, National Cheng Kung University
Ruey-Lin Chen
Distinguished Chair Professor, Department of Philosophy, National Chung Cheng University
Sharon Ku
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering & Society, University of Virginia
Ying-Tung Lin
Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Min-Jung Cheng
Graduate Student, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, NYCU
Yun-Ying Kuo
Graduate Student, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, NYCU
Meng-Yun Hsu
Graduate Student, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, NYCU
Ming-Guan Lai
Graduate Student, Graduate Program of Foreign Literatures and Linguistics, NYCU
Wei-Ting Hung
Undergraduate Student, Department of Computer Science, NYCU

DAY 2

Speaker: Catherine Herfeld
Assistant Professor of Social Theory and Philosophy of the Social Sciences, University of Zurich

Date: December 7th, Tuesday, 10:00-13:00 Switzerland/17:00-20:00 Taiwan

Schedule in Different Time Zones:
10:00-11:20 (Switzerland) Talk
11:20-11:30 (Switzerland) Break Time
11:30-13:00 (Switzerland) Conversation

17:00-18:20 (Taiwan) Talk
18:20-18:30 (Taiwan) Break Time
18:30-20:00 (Taiwan) Conversation


Discussants (in alphabetical order):
Yin Chung Au
Assistant Professor, Department of History, National Cheng Kung University
Hsiang-Ke Chao
Professor & Associate Chairman, Department of Economics, National Tsing Hua University
Ruey-Lin Chen
Distinguished Chair Professor, Department of Philosophy, National Chung Cheng University
Sharon Ku
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering & Society, University of Virginia
Ying-Tung Lin
Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

DAY 3

Roundtable Discussion: The Future of Interdisciplinary Philosophy

Hosts:
Karen Yan
Associate Professor & Director, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Mike Stuart
Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Panelists:
Sabina Leonelli
Professor of Philosophy and History of Science, Co-Director of the Exeter Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences (Egenis), University of Exeter
Miles MacLeod
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences, University of Twente
Sophie Ritson, Casual Academic, University of Melbourne

Date: December 8th, Wednesday, 9:00-12:00 UK/10:00-13:00 Switzerland/ Netherlands/17:00-20:00 Taiwan/20:00-23:00 Melbourne

Schedule in Different Time Zones:
UK Time
9:10-9:30 Sabina Leonelli
9:30-9:50 Miles MacLeod
9:50-10:10 Sophie Ritson
10:10-10:30 Break 
10:30-12:00 Discussion

Switzerland; Netherlands Time
10:10-10:30 Sabina Leonelli
10:30-10:50 Miles MacLeod
10:50-11:10 Sophie Ritson
11:10-11:30 Break 
11:30-13:00 Discussion

Taiwan Time
17:10-17:30 Sabina Leonelli
17:30-17:50 Miles MacLeod
17:50-18:10 Sophie Ritson
18:10-18:30 Break 
18:30-20:00 Discussion

Melbourne Time
20:10-20:30 Sabina Leonelli
20:30-20:50 Miles MacLeod
20:50-21:10 Sophie Ritson
21:10-21:30 Break 
21:30-23:00 Discussion


Discussants (in alphabetical order): 
Yin Chung Au
Assistant Professor, Department of History, National Cheng Kung University
Hsiang-Ke Chao
Professor & Associate Chairman, Department of Economics, National Tsing Hua University
Ruey-Lin Chen
Distinguished Chair Professor, Department of Philosophy, National Chung Cheng University
Lynn Chiu
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Vienna
Catherine Herfeld
Assistant professor of Social Theory and Philosophy of the Social Sciences at the University of Zurich
Jonathon Hricko
Associate Professor, Education Center of Humanities and Social Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Sharon Ku
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering & Society, University of Virginia
Chia-Hua Lin
Post-Doc, Department of Economics, National Tsing Hua University
Ying-Tung Lin
Associate Professor, Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Workshop Reading List:

Nersessian, N. J. (2019). Interdisciplinarities in action: Cognitive ethnography of bioengineering sciences research laboratories. Perspectives on Science, 27(4), 553–581. https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00316

Osbeck, L. M., & Nersessian, N. J. (2017). Epistemic identities in interdisciplinary science. Perspectives on Science, 25(2), 226–260. https://doi.org/10.1162/POSC_a_00242

Herfeld, C., & Doehne, M. (2019). The diffusion of scientific innovations: A role typology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 77, 64–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.12.001

MacLeod, M. (2018). What makes interdisciplinarity difficult? Some consequences of domain specificity in interdisciplinary practice. Synthese, 195(2), 697–720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-016-1236-4

MacLeod, M., & van der Veen, J. T. (2020). Scaffolding interdisciplinary project-based learning: A case study. European Journal of Engineering Education, 45(3), 363–377. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2019.1646210

Nersessian, Nancy and MacLeod, Miles (2021) Rethinking Ethnography for Philosophy of Science.
http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/19798/

Speakers’ Websites:

Nancy Nersessian
https://mbb.harvard.edu/people/nancy-nersessian
www.cc.gatech.edu/~nersessian

Catherine Herfeld
https://www.uzh.ch/cmsssl/suz/en/institute/aboutus/professors/herfeld.html

Sabina Leonelli
https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/sociology/staff/leonelli/

Miles MacLeod
https://people.utwente.nl/m.a.j.macleod?tab=research

Sophie Ritson
https://www.sophieritson.com/