Im Rahmen des Forschungsseminars laden wir recht herzlich ein zum Vortrag:

Prof. Claus Beisbart (Univ. Bern):
"Überlegungsgleichgewicht"

Abstract

Reflective equilibrium (RE) is often taken to be the crucial method of normative ethics (J. Rawls), philosophy (D. Lewis) or understanding more generally (C. Elgin). Despite of its apparent popularity, however, the method is only vaguely characterized, poorly developed and almost never applied to real-world problems in an open-minded spirit. The aim of this talk is to present a precise and formal model of the RE. The starting point is an informal characterization of what I take to be the key idea of RE, viz. an elaboration of one's commitments due to pressure from systematic principles. This idea then is spelled out in the framework of the Theory of Dialectical Structures, as developed by G. Betz. The commitments of an epistemic subject are described as a position in a dialectical structure; desiderata for the positions are postulated; and rules for changing the commitments expounded. Simple examples, in which the model is applied, display a number of features that are well-known from the literature about RE. The talks concludes by discussing the limitations of the model. It is based upon work done jointly with G. Betz and G. Brun.

Speaker

Dr. rer. nat. Dr. phil. Claus Beisbart is Professor for Philosophy of Science at the University of Bern. He completed his first Ph.D. in physical cosmology at the Ludwig Maximilan University Munich and a second Ph.D. in philosophy at the same place. After having been a researcher in the Philosophy, Probability and Modeling Research Group at the University of Konstanz in 2004–05 , he became a postdoc at TU Dortmund University, where he obtained his habilitation in 2012. He was a visiting fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh in 2008–09. Since 2012, he works at the University of Bern, where he is affiliated not only with the Institute for Philosophy, but also with the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and the Center for Space and Habitability. His main research fields include the philosophy of physics, in particular of cosmology, the epistemology of models and simulations, probabilities and the foundations of ethics. Since 2015, he is co-editor of the Journal for General Philosophy of Science. Recent publications include: Probabilities in Physics (edited with S. Hartmann), Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011; How Can Computer Simulations Produce New Knowledge?, European Journal for Philosophy of Science 2 (2012), pp. 395–434; Philosophy and Cosmology, in: P. Humphreys (ed.), Oxford Handbook in the Philosophy of Science, New York: Oxford University Press 2016, pp. 817–835.