Table of
Contents:
- PSA Around the World
2025
-
Call for Proposals -
PSA Around the World
2027
- PSA Office Hours
- Postdoc Message and Survey (Postdoc
Appreciation Week)
-
Short Reads by Grads
-
PhilSci Archive - Top 5
Downloads
- Upcoming Events
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PSA Around the
World 2025
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In 2023, the Philosophy of
Science Association launched
a new initiative called PSA
Around the World. The aim of
the initiative is to reach
out to the global community
of philosophers of science
and spotlight the rich
diversity of practices and
traditions in the field of
philosophy of science via
fully online conferences
with a dedicated regional
focus, running in the years
when the Biennial Meeting of
the PSA does not take place.
The second PSA Around the
World conference spotlights
Eastern and Central Europe
and is organized by the East
European Network for
Philosophy of Science (https://eenps.weebly.com/).
We are excited to announce
that registration is now
open for PSA Around the
World 2025. The conference
will take place Thursday,
November 6 (3pm - 6:15pm,
Central European Time),
Friday, November 14 (3pm -
6:15pm, Central European
Time), and Saturday,
November 22 (3pm - 6:30pm
Central European Time).
Following the format of
previous PSA Around the
Worlds, each day will begin
with a 75-minute plenary
panel, followed by
contributed paper talks.
Panel #1 (Nov.6) - "Central
and East European
Philosophy of Science
Across Borders"
Organized by Marcin
Milkowski, feat. Marta
Sznajder, Angela Potochnik,
Frederique Janssen Lauret
and Artur Koterski
Panel #2 (Nov.14) - "Showcasing
Excellent Current Work in
the CEE Region"
Organized by Magdalena
Malecka, feat. Olesya
Bondarenko, Joanna
Malinowska, Endla Lõhkivi
and Stathis Psillos
Panel #3 (Nov. 22) - "On
Scientific Understanding"
Organized by Lilia Gurova,
feat. Henk W. de Regt, Borut
Trpin, Daniel Kostic, Andrei
Marasoiu and Lilia Gurova
We look forward to a great
conference, for more
information and to register,
please visit https://www.philsci.org/psa_around_the_world_2025.php
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Call for
Proposals - PSA Around
the World 2027
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Due Date:
December 1, 2025
In 2023, the Philosophy of
Science Association launched
a new initiative called PSA
Around the World. The aim of
the initiative is to engage
with the global community of
philosophers of science and
spotlight the rich diversity
of practices and traditions
in the field of philosophy
of science. The conferences
are fully online with a
dedicated regional focus,
running in the years when
the Biennial Meeting of the
PSA does not take place. The
PSA office will provide all
necessary logistical support
in setting up the conference
website, advertising calls
for paper submissions, and
hosting the conference via
Zoom (or other appropriate
online platform).
The initial
PSAAW in 2023 focused on
philosophy of science in
Asia and the current one in
2025, organized by the East
European Network for
Philosophy of Science,
highlights Eastern and
Central Europe. The
conferences are open to all
PSA members worldwide.
PSA is now
soliciting proposals for PSA
Around the World 2027.
Applicants should
familiarize themselves with
the format of past and
present conferences.
Applications consist of a
letter to the President of
the PSA, Craig Callender,
Chair of the International
Relations Committee, Manuela
Fernández Pinto, and
Executive Director, Max
Cormendy. The letter should
contain information about
why this region is an
attractive one to highlight
now, the local community,
and the capacity of the
potential organizers to run
a successful conference.
In particular, please
briefly address the
motivation for choosing the
proposed geographical
region, who would be the
Program Committee Chair or
Chairs and why their
research, experience with
running conferences, and
local connections make them
a good fit, the region’s
philosophy of science
activity and any networks
that may exist, formal or
informal, and your ability
to put together (with help
from PSA) a Program
Committee and handle paper
submissions and selection.
Submissions can be sent to dire...@philsci.org. A successful
proposal will be announced
in January 2026.
If you have any questions,
please don’t hesitate to
email dire...@philsci.org.
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October:
Political Philosophy of
Science
S. Andrew
Schroeder - Thursday
October 9th 2025, 12pm
EST
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S.
Andrew Schroeder
My research and teaching
cover a range of topics in
ethics, political
philosophy, bioethics, the
philosophy of disability,
and the philosophy of
science. Right now, I'm
especially focused on
promoting work in what I
call the political
philosophy of science:
using concepts, tools, and
methods drawn from political
philosophy to shed light on
the value-laden decisions
scientists must make. These
decisions - concerning, for
example, how scientists
should define contested
terms like 'employment' or
'sexual assault'; how they
should manage uncertainty;
how they should set
parameters like the economic
discount rate; or how they
should choose among
statistical representations
of their results - are
commonly discussed by
philosophers and other
scholars of science using
the concepts, tools, and
methods characteristic of
ethics. But, in many cases,
the right thing to do in a
substantive ethical sense
can diverge from what is
politically legitimate.
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October: Philosophy
of Physics
David
Wallace - Wednesday
October 22nd 2025, 12pm
EST
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David
Wallace
My research interests are
mostly in the philosophy of
physics. I've been
particularly active in
trying to develop and defend
the Everett interpretation
of quantum theory (often
called the "Many-Worlds
Interpretation"); my book on
the Everett interpretation,
"The Emergent Multiverse",
was published in June 2012.
But I also have
philosophical and conceptual
interests in quantum
mechanics, quantum field
theory, statistical
mechanics, general
relativity, symmetry and
gauge theory, and basically
pretty much all of
contemporary philosophy of
physics. Outside philosophy
of physics, I'm interested
in emergence and
reductionism, in structural
realism, and in decision
theory.
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November: New
Approaches to Realism
Michela Massimi
and Mazviita
Chirimuuta - Monday
November 24th 2025, 12pm
EST
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Mazviita
Chirimuuta
I currently do research on
the history and philosophy
of the mind/brain sciences,
and foundational topics in
philosophy of cognitive
science. I am the author of
'Outside Color' (2015) and
'The Brain Abstracted'
(2024), both published with
MIT Press.
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December:
Philosophy of AI
Atoosa
Kasirzadeh and William
D’Alessandro -
Thursday December
4th 2025, 12pm EST
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Atoosa
Kasirzadeh
Atoosa is a philosopher and
AI researcher with a track
record of publications on
philosophy, ethics, and
governance of AI and
computational sciences.
Currently, she is an
Assistant Professor
at Carnegie Mellon
University with joint
affiliations in the Philosophy and Software
& Societal Systems departments,
a core member of the Institute
for Complex Social
Dynamics, and a
part-time Research
Scientist at Google
DeepMind. During 2025-2027,
Atoosa is the council member
of the World Economic
Forum’s Global Future
Council on Artificial
General Intelligence. Atoosa
is also a 2024 Schmidt
Sciences AI2050 Early Career
Fellow, a Steering Committee
Member for the ACM FAccT
conference, and a program
cho-chair for 2025 and 2026
conferences of the
International Association
for Safe and Ethical AI
(IASEAI). Previously, she
was a visiting faculty at
Google Research, a
Chancellor’s Fellow and
Research Lead at the
University of Edinburgh’s
Centre for Technomoral
Futures, a Group Research
Lead at the Alan Turing
Institute, a DCMS/UKRI
Senior Policy Fellow, and a
Governance of AI Fellow at
Oxford. Atoosa holds two
doctoral degrees: a Ph.D. in
Philosophy of Science and
Technology from the
University of Toronto and a
Ph.D. in Mathematics
(Operations Research) from
the École Polytechnique de
Montréal. She holds a B.Sc.
and M.Sc. in Systems
Engineering. Her research
combines quantitative,
qualitative, and
philosophical methods to
explore questions about the
societal impacts,
governance, and future of AI
and humanity.
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William
D’Alessandro
William D'Alessandro
received a PhD in philosophy
and MS in mathematics from
the University of Illinois
Chicago. His primary
research interests are in
philosophy of science and
math, epistemology,
aesthetics and philosophy of
artificial intelligence. One
major strand of his work
focuses on explanation,
understanding, models,
proofs, and what we can
learn about these things
from studying scientific
practice. Another strand
focuses on the impacts of
increasingly powerful AI
systems on our lives and
institutions. His papers
have appeared in journals
like Philosophers'
Imprint, Philosophical
Studies, The
British Journal for the
Philosophy of Science,
Episteme and The
British Journal of
Aesthetics; they've
received a BJPS Editor's
Choice Award, the APA's
Routledge, Taylor &
Francis article prize and
other honors.
For more information or to
sign up, visit: https://www.philsci.org/psa_office_hour.php
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Postdoc Appreciation
Week
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This week is National
Postdoc Appreciation Week!
The PSA is in the process of
implementing a formal
subdivision devoted to
postdoctoral scholars and
their distinctive needs. A
working group is meeting
intermittently online to
shape this subdivision and
establish its priorities. As
a part of this process, PSA
members are invited to take
a short (5 minute)
informational survey to help
us in this endeavor (https://ucincinnati.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8olkHqpCT6xj8Vw).
Thank you in advance for
taking the time to do it.
All interested PSA members
are welcome to join this
ongoing conversation. Please
reach out to Alan Love (acl...@umn.edu) if you would like to
be included in the email
updates and receive Zoom
link information for future
meetings.
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Aaron David Lugo-Palacios is
a Doctorate candidate in
Agricultural and Forestry
Sciences at the Universidad
Juárez del Estado de
Durango. He is working on an
integrated system about
sustainable agriculture and
remote sensing for
dissertation project, the
objective is to involve
multispectral images,
agroecology and halophytes
as comprehensive management
of natural resources. His
interest in the philosophy
of science lies in the
desire to understand in
depth the process of
generating knowledge. He
recognizes that this branch
of philosophy is the guiding
axis in the way of producing
knowledge in all areas of
science.
Book
Review: Information &
Experimental Knowledge
(2021), James Mattingly
By
Aaron David Lugo-Palacios
Information and experimental
knowledge is a required
reading for every scientist.
This book offers a broader
picture of how humans create
science; we use models to
construct our reality in
order to answer our own
questions. Once we
comprehend the process
behind the different systems
that shape and drive
knowledge, we conceive in a
better way the nature of
experimentation. The
scientist comprehension
helps shape the future of
society, as guided by
science. The book is a tool
for the above mentioned; it
is completely structured
with the apparent objective
of demonstrating the correct
way to achieve an adequate
understanding of the whole
human experience.
The reader's interest lies
in James Mattingly's vision,
which is structured in three
parts. In the first, he
talks about the ways of
generating knowledge.
Besides that, calibration is
the key concept of this
part. The production of
knowledge is explored in
depth; the act of
replication and its
applicability are addressed.
Intervention is highlighted
and we discover why it is
necessary in some aspects,
but it is not the only way.
Mere observation is
sometimes sufficient to
establish information about
the nature of things; we
could deduce something just
by analyzing it with our
senses. Furthermore, the
author clarifies how humans
establish causality and
gives importance to
statistics. However, we need
explanations to associate a
cause-effect phenomenon with
certainty.
In the second part,
Mattingly explains his
theory of experimental
knowledge. The writer bases
his idea on some models
already proposed by other
authors. He used the model
of information communication
developed by Shannon &
Weaver (1949). Furthermore,
he supports his proposal in
information-theoretic
account of knowledge by
Dretske (1981), as well as
in the extension of the
previous model made by
Barwise & Seligman
(1997). Consequently, in a
few words the main idea of
the proposed thesis is that
knowledge is generated
through a channel that
transmits information. Once
scientists learn this, they
begin to guide knowledge
production like an
irrigation canal guides
water. The information
transmitted through the
channel provides data that
subsequently characterizes
the proximal system, this is
the complex where we can do
an experiment because our
resources (e.g. instruments)
allow it, then, we digest
the knowledge according to
analogy of Sterret (2017)
considering the similarities
with the distal system,
which is the opposite of
proximal. In that way, we
determine connections
between both systems. This
is how science impacts
society and functions as a
tool in the art of
responding to our
uncertainty.
Finally, in the last part of
the book, different examples
of experiments are analyzed,
in relation to the dynamic
flow through the information
channel and how authors
transform data into
knowledge. They always make
inferences about distal
systems from proximal
systems; the author shows
some inconsistencies in
essential areas of science
such as biology and
cosmology e.g. incorrect
inference between humans and
mice in inflammatory
response due to different
metabolic pathways.
Furthermore, he demonstrates
what a direct experiment is
and indicates the difference
with respect to indirect
experiments, the former
occurs when the experimenter
characterizes the system
through straight
observations, while the
latter materialize in an
analogical manner, that is,
scientists look for
similarities between systems
to assign properties.
Based on the above, humans
can currently experiment
things that appeared
impossible in previous eras,
such as space exploration
and a subsequently
observation of mars.
Nevertheless, we still have
areas of opportunity to
cover in the name of
knowledge. This book guides
towards a superior practice
of science from foundations,
the reader should understand
the entire process of
information flow proposed by
the author to make better
observations, and
consequently to generate
knowledge of quality and
utility.
Bibliographic
references
Barwise, J.,
& Seligman, J.
(1997). Information flow:
the logic of distributed
systems. Cambridge
University Press.
Dretske, F. I. (1981).
Knowledge and the Flow of
Information. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
Shannon, C.
E., & Weaver, W. (1949).
Mathematical theory of
communication. Chicago:
University of Illinois.
Sterrett, S. G. (2017).
“Experimentation on Analogue
Models.” In Springer
Handbook of Model Based
Science, edited bt Lorenzo
Magnani and Tommasso
Bertolotti, 857-878.
Dordrecht: Springer.
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PhilSci Archive - Top 5
Downloads
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PhilSci-Archive is the
official preprint repository
for the PSA and the best
place to host your
philosophy of science
preprints. It offers a free,
stable, and openly
accessible archive for
scholarly articles and
monographs. With
PhilSci-Archive, researchers
can search the open-access
repository and get curated
alerts about new work
delivered to their inboxes.
Many journals encourage
authors to post preprints on
archives like the
PhilSci-Archive in order to
increase readership, and
historical data suggests
that posting to the archive
increases a published
paper's citation rates (see https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/20778/).
Visit philsci-archive.pitt.edu today
to create a free account and
post your preprints.
The most downloaded
preprints for the last 6
months of articles deposited
in the previous 2 years are:
Potiron,
Aline (2025) Beyond the
Microscope: Rethinking
Microbial Diversity
Measurement with the
Model-Based Account.
Bravo,
Pedro (2025) Grouping
approaches to PFAS and
industry funding: a case
study on the findings of a
recent panel of experts.
Gnoli,
Claudio (2025) Is an
all-purpose classification
possible? Insights from
Farradane's approach to
knowledge organization.
McConwell,
Alison and Bogacz,
Magdalena and Brecevic,
Char and Haber, Matthew
H. and Wu, Jingyi and Roe,
Sarah (2025) Changing
Working Environments in
Philosophy: Reflections
from a Case Study.
de
Lima Prestes, José
Augusto (2025) Simulated
Selfhood in LLMs: A
Behavioral Analysis of
Introspective Coherence.
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