Metaphysics of Science at the Pacific APA

Two sessions of the Society of the Metaphysics of Science will be meeting at the Pacific APA this week, on Thursday and Friday evenings. Links to some advance drafts and notes are provided.

Thursday, 8:00-10:00 p.m.

G5E Society for the Metaphysics of Science, Session 1

Topic: Abstraction, Idealization, and Multiple Realization

Chair: Tom Polger (University of Cincinnati)

Speakers:

• Matthew Haug (College of William and Mary) Abstraction and Explanatory Relevance
• Colin Klein (University of Illinois–Chicago) Against Scientific Levels: The Problem of Within-Theory Abstraction
• Angela Potochnik (University of Cincinnati) Idealizing the Realizers

Friday, 7:00-10:00 p.m.

G6M Society for the Metaphysics of Science, Session 2

Topic: How Is the Metaphysics of Science Possible? If It Is Possible?

Speakers:

• Paul Humphreys (University of Virginia) Analytic and Scientific Metaphysics
• Andrew Melnyk (University of Missouri) Can There Be a Naturalistic Metaphysics?
• Anjan Chakravartty (University of Toronto) Ontological Relativity as Indispensible Metaphysics of Science
• Alyssa Ney (University of Rochester) What Should a Scientifically-Informed Metaphysics Be?