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Event Details
Seventh European Advanced School in the Philosophy
of the Life Sciences (EASPLS)
“Explanation and Evidence in Biology and Medicine”
Directors: Leonardo Bich, Lucie Laplane, Matteo Mossio
Dates: September 9th-13th 2024
Location: Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), Klosterneuburg (Austria)
PROGRAM
Monday 9th
17h00 - 17h20: Introduction by the organizers
17h20 - 18h30 : Invited Lecture 1 - Marie Kaiser (Bielefeld University) "How the individualized niche concept facilitates mechanistic explanation"
18h30 - 20h30: Welcome dinner buffet
Tuesday 10th
Morning
9h00 - 9h50: Thomas Reydon “Historical Explanation in Evolutionary Science”
9h50 - 10h40: Philippe Huneman “Structural explanations, networks and big data in ecology and evolutionary biology”
10h40 - 11h10: Coffee break
11h10 - 12h00: Laura Menatti and Corey Bunce “Navigating interdisciplinarity for explanations of climate change adaptation”
12h00 - 13h15: Lunch
13h15 - 14h15: Feedback sessions on students’ presentations (2 sessions of 30 mins each)
14h15 - 14h30: Break
Afternoon
14h30 - 15h45: Work groups session
15h45 - 16h15: Coffee break
16h15 - 17h30: Plenary discussion with groups’ comments
17h30 - 18h00: Break
18h00 - 19h00: Career Development Session 1 (mentoring on job applications)
Wednesday 11th
Morning
9h00 - 9h50: Maël Lemoine “Aging and the necessity of death”
9h50 - 10h40: Leonardo Bich “Organizational explanations: autonomy and mechanism”
10h40 - 11h00: Coffee Break
11h00 - 12h00: Career Development Session 2 (round table on publishing and peer review)
12h00 - 13h15: Lunch
13h15 - 14h15: Feedback sessions on students’ presentations (2 sessions of 30 mins each)
14h15 - 14h30: Break
Afternoon
14h30 - 15h45: Work groups session
15h45 - 16h15: Coffee break
16h15 - 17h30: Plenary discussion with groups’ comments
17h30 - 18h00: Break
18h00 - 19h00: : Career Development Session 3 (improving academic life quality. Facilitators: Laura Menatti and Marina Knickel)
+ EASPLS Consortium Meeting
Thursday 12th
Morning
9h00 - 9h50: Sara Green “Evidence and uncertainty in precision medicine”
9h50 - 10h40: Marcel Weber: “Counterfactual pandemic scenarios”
10h40 - 11h10: Coffee break
11h10 - 12h00: Adrian Currie “Aesthetics of scientific practice”
12h00 - 13h15: Lunch
13h15 - 14h15 Feedback sessions on students’ presentations (2 sessions of 30 mins each)
14h15 - 14h30: Break
Afternoon
14h30 - 15h45: Work groups ession
15h45 - 16h15: Coffee break
16h15 - 17h30: Plenary discussion with groups’ comments
17h30 - 18h00: Break
19h00: Closing dinner
Friday 13th
Morning
09h30 - 10h40 : Invited lecture 2 - Laura Nuño de la Rosa (Complutense University of Madrid) "Evidence and explanation in selectionist and developmental approaches to evolution"
10h40 - 11h30: Farewell coffee break
The seventh edition of the biennial European Advanced School in the Philosophy of the Life Sciences (EASPLS) will take place at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), in Klosterneuburg (Austria). The school is primarily aimed at young scholars (PhD students and early post-doctoral researchers) working in the history, philosophy and social studies of the biological, biomedical, and environmental sciences. The topic of this edition is “Explanation and Evidence in Biology and Medicine”.
What is the EASPLS?
The European Advanced School for the Philosophy of the Life Sciences is a biennial event that aims at fostering research, facilitating collaborations, and providing professional training to students in the field of the philosophy, history, and social studies of the life sciences, broadly construed. EASPLS is organized by a consortium of the following European top-level institutions in the area of philosophy, history and social studies of the life sciences:
- Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities; University of Geneva, Switzerland
- Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences; University of Exeter, UK
- Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), Klosterneuburg, Austria
- IAS Research Centre for Life, Mind and Society; University of the Basque Country, San Sebastian, Spain
- Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST); University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne & CNRS, France
- Institute for Philosophy in Biology & Medicine (PhilInBioMed) & ImmunoConcEpT lab, University of Bordeaux & CNRS, France
- Institute of Philosophy & Centre for Ethics and Law in the Life Sciences (CELLS); Leibniz University Hannover, Germany
- Section for History and Philosophy of Science, Department of Science Education; University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Format
The 7th EASPLS is structured around different forms of participation and aims at fostering interactions among participants and between participants and senior researchers (instructors). The schedule mixes:
- Two lectures by guest specialists:
- Marie Kaiser (Bielefeld University)
- Laura Nuño de la Rosa (Complutense University of Madrid)
- Morning lectures given by instructors senior researchers from each consortium institution (instructors) on a variety of topics related to “Explanation and evidence in Biology and Medicine” (readings may be circulated in advance).
Instructors: Leonardo Bich (San Sebastian), Corey Bunce and Laura Menatti (Klosterneuburg), Adrien Currie (Exeter), Sara Green (Copenhagen), Maël Lemoine (Bordeaux), Matteo Mossio (Paris), Thomas Reydon (Hannover), Marcel Weber (Geneva). - In the afternoon (first part), group work addressing questions and issues raised by the morning lectures.
- In the afternoon (second part), general discussion introduced by commentaries on the morning lectures provided by each group.
- During the week, special sessions will be dedicated to career development to help students navigate the difficult academic environment and to help create a healthier one for the future.
Topic of EASPLS 2024: “Explanation and Evidence in Biology and Medicine”
Many scientific activities are focused on the elaboration of explanation and evidence for knowledge claims. Philosophy of biology deals with the distinctive ways explanation is carried out in biological sciences, and has emerged to respond to the inadequacies of the deductive nomological model, when applied to the life sciences. Philosophy of medicine has discussed the role of statistical evidence and mechanistic explanations in our understanding of disease and evaluation of medical interventions.
In both biology and medicine, debates about explanation have then been framed around general issues such as reductionism vs. anti-reductionism or hypothesis-driven vs. data-driven approaches, generality vs specificity, the importance of the context of explanation, the epistemic status of models and idealizations, the role of practice, etc. Various and sometimes overlapping explanatory strategies have been identified as deployed by scientists and philosophers to specifically deal with living phenomena including evolutionary, mechanistic, teleological and functional, structural, topological and organizational. Such strategies are often influenced by evidential practices - i.e. what researchers view as actionable or plausible evidence for their claims, and whether they think such evidence is or could be made available, or not.
The goal of the EASPLS 2024 is to train participants in the philosophical debates on explanation and evidence in the life sciences, the existing strategies, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their mutual relations. Using examples from past and current sciences, EASPLS 2024 will analyze and reflect on explanation in different fields of the life and medical sciences and its relation to evidential practices. Instructors and invited speakers will address the topic from a wide variety of perspectives, so as to represent the diversity of positions advocated in the literature and to foster debate.
Fees
Registration fees are 300 €. The summer school will cover lunches and two dinners. Participants will take care of their own accommodation and travel expenses. The school may provide financial support for students’ participation. Please write to easpls2024@kli.ac.at.
For payments by credit card, please visit: https://kli.ac.at/content/payment_summer_school_2024
Host Institution and accommodation
EASPLS 2024 will be held at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Klosterneuburg, a small town about 15 min by train from Vienna. The KLI is an independent center of advanced studies in the life and sustainability sciences (https://www.kli.ac.at/en).
The KLI is located in the historical Kremsmünsterhof, a cultural heritage monument where workshops, symposia, and summer schools are hosted. It provides a stimulating and creative environment for fellows, visiting scholars, students, and external faculty.
Vienna and Klosterneuburg offer plenty of options for accommodation. If you are interested in the more affordable ones, please, take a look at the following links:
Hotels in Klosterneuburg:
Bürgerhaus Salmeyer (very good B&B; apartments; a bit pricey; very close to KLI)
https://www.buergerhaus-salmeyer.at/
Hotel Anker (simple rooms; low prices; very close to KLI)
Hotels in Vienna:
Hotel Boltzmann (very good hotel; excellent breakfast; 4-stars, but good prices; not too far from train station for train to Klosterneuburg)
https://www.hotelboltzmann.at/
Hotel Bellevue (good hotel; a bit pricey; very close to train station for train to Klosterneuburg)
Hotel Steigenberger Herrenhof (one of the best hotels in Vienna; in the historical center of Vienna)
https://hrewards.com/de/steigenberger-hotel-herrenhof-wien
Hotel Strudlhof (reasonable prices; close to train station for train to Klosterneuburg)
Hostel Brigittenau (low prices; simple rooms)
https://www.oejhv.at/jugendherbergen/wien/1200vienna/jugendgaestehaus-brigittenau/
Porzellaneum (student residence: low prices; simple rooms, very close to the train station to Klosterneuburg)
https://www.porzellaneum.sth.ac.at/welcome-to-the-porzellaneum.html
Application
Applications should be sent to easpls2024@kli.ac.at or matteo.mossio@univ-paris1.fr
The application includes:
- A letter of motivation (max 500 words)
- A short Curriculum Vitae (max 3 pages)
The deadline for applications is April 7th. Applicants will be notified of decisions by April 30th.
This event is generously sponsored by ISHPSSB
