In recent years, many researchers working in the philosophy of science have become more and more interested in scientific practices. This so-called “practice turn” seeks to replace or amend the attention traditionally given to scientific theories (their structure, content, and ontological status) with a focus on the practical activities carried out by physicists, chemists, biologists, mathematicians etc. in their day-to-day work (cf. Mancosu 2008, Hüttemann 2021, Soler et al. 2022).
These developments have in common their reliance on the notion of scientific/mathematical practice. But what exactly is a scientific/mathematical practice? What is the relation between such practices and scientific theory? Are there, in fact, no theories, but only bits of “theory-shaped practices” (cf. French 2020, Baird 2003)? The current workshop aims to address concerns of this kind by raising a broad philosophical question: What do we talk about when we talk about scientific practices?
Keynotes:
- Prof. Dr. Michela Massimi (Edinburgh): Epistemic Communities and their Situated Practices
- Prof. Dr. Friedrich Steinle (TU Berlin): Research and its Presentations: Different Practices
- Dr. Silvia De Toffoli (IUSS Pavia): The Practice Turn in the Philosophy of Mathematics
The workshop will be held from 23/05/2024 to 24/05/2024 at Heinrich Heine University’s Haus der Universität. Attendance is free, but prior registration is required. To register, please fill out the form on our website.
The event is organized by Daian Bica and Paul Hasselkuß (Düsseldorf), and generously supported by the Department of Philosophy, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the German Society for Analytic Philosophy, and by Prof. Dr. Markus Schrenk (Düsseldorf).