Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
https://p3-summerschool.netlify.app
In the intellectual climate following the decline of post-positivist
philosophy of science, scientific pluralism emerged as a direct critical
response to the perceived failure of post-positivism to offer a unified
view of science. Scientific practices began to be understood in a
pluralistic, piecemeal fashion, shifting the focus from a monolithic
conception of science to a multiplicity of approaches (cf. Galison &
Stump 1996). Pluralism has since evolved into an active and explicit
research program within the philosophy of science (cf. Ludwig & Ruby
2021). Very recently, the pluralist stance has materialized in forms
like scientific perspectivism (cf. Giere 2006; Teller 2019; Massimi
2022; Kendig 2024) and pragmatist philosophy of science (cf. Price 2011;
Andersen & Mitchell 2023; Chang 2022).
At the HHU Summer School, we aim to foster a rich dialogue between
pluralism, pragmatism, and perspectivism, anchored in their shared
pluralistic foundations (see Price 2011 for a non-representational
understanding that underlies both pragmatism and causal
perspectivalism). In this context of P3, the role of scientific models
as vehicles of representation (cf. Frigg & Nguyen 2021; 2022) and
traditional conceptions of truth (cf. Andersen 2023) are reinterpreted
through new philosophical lenses. By the same token, the
representational means by which the representational function of models
is achieved are irreducibly pluralistic. (See Suárez 2024’s proposal for
representational pluralism). Questions about the role of scientific
instruments and the extent to which instruments are ‘perspectival’ and
reflect a ‘point of view’ are becoming increasingly relevant (cf. Giere
2006; Crețu 2022 for a recent reappraisal).
Instructors:
Ana-Maria Crețu (Bristol)
Roman Frigg (LSE)
Catherine Kendig (Michigan State University)
Martin Kusch (Vienna)
Mauricio Suárez (Complutense University of Madrid & LSE)
Lecturers:
Holly Andersen (Simon Fraser University)
Anjan Chakravartty (Miami)
Catarina Dutilh Novaes (VU Amsterdam & St. Andrews)
Huw Price (Cambridge & Bonn)
The summer school will be held in person from 15/09/2025 to 19/09/2025,
at Heinrich Heine University’s Haus der Universität. We welcome
applications from current graduate students (MA and PhD) through our
website: https://p3-summerschool.netlify.app/call-for-applications. The
application deadline is 15/06/2025. There is no participation fee, but
participants must cover their travel and accommodation expenses. We
especially encourage applications from members of underrepresented
groups.
The event is organised by Daian Bica, Paul Hasselkuß, and Alexander
Christian (Düsseldorf). It is hosted and supported by Heinrich Heine
University, and endorsed by the German Society for Analytic Philosophy
as an asteroid event to GAP.12.