Philosophy of science group meetings

First half of 2025

Thursdays 1–2pm, unless otherwise noted

13 February: lab meeting

20 Feb: Phil Sci Reading group: Maureen O’Malley visiting; discussing a draft chapter of her book manuscript Philosophical issues in microbiome research: Chapter 3: Natural microbiomes and human ‘nature’

27 Feb: lab meeting

6 March: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

12 March (Wednesday) 4–5:30pm: Dan McShea visiting, reading group special edition on teleology.

13 Mar: PhilSci Reading group: Derek Skillings visiting; discussing his draft paper on holobionts.

20 Mar: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

27 Mar: lab meeting

3 April: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

10 Apr: lab meeting

17 Apr: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

24 Apr: lab meeting

1 May: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

8 May: lab meeting

15 May: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

22 May: lab meeting

29 May: Mark Bedau visiting

5 June: lab meeting

12 June: Australia/NZ Phil Bio meeting in Mittagong, NSW (10–13 June)

19 June: lab meeting

26 June: Phil Sci Reading group: TBD

Past semester reading archives:

Semester 2 2024:

12 August: Neil Levy, “No trespassing! Abandoning the novice/expert problem”

26 August: Caleb Hazelwood (manuscript for feedback), “Beanbag holobionts”

2 September: James Mansell presenting PhD thesis overview

9 September: Samuel Johnson et al., “Conviction Narrative Theory: A theory of choice under radical uncertainty”

Semester 1 2024:

12 February: Griffin et al., “Compassionate Conservation Clashes With Conservation Biology: Should Empathy, Compassion, and Deontological Moral Principles Drive Conservation Practice?”

26 February: Whyte, “Against crisis epistemology”

11 March: Chalmers, “What is conceptual engineering and what should it be?”

25 March: Sanches de Oliveira et al., “Scientific practice as ecological-enactive co-construction”

15 April: Massimi, Perspectival Realism chapter 1

29 April: Massimi, Perspectival Realism chapter 2

13 May: Massimi, Perspectival Realism chapter 3

27 May: Massimi, Perspectival Realism chapter 4

10 June: Massimi, Perspectival Realism chapter 5

24 June: Massimi, Perspectival Realism chapter 11

8 July: Giere, “Modest evolutionary naturalism”

Semester 2 2023

25 July: Fleisher, “Rational endorsement”

8 August: Pavlinov, excerpts from The species problem: a conceptual history

22 August: Doolittle, “Speciation without species”

5 September: Odenbaugh, “On the very idea of an ecosystem”

19 September: Levy, “Too humble for words”

17 October: Gabbi’s PhD writing sample draft

31 October: Wilholt, “Epistemic trust in science”

14 November: Bright, “On fraud”

12 December: Matthew Slater visiting

Semester 1 2023

17 January: Cline, “Do Species Really Matter? The Case of ‘The’ Galápagos Giant Tortoise”

14 February: Ally’s draft paper “Landing among the stars: failure response planning for Predator Free 2050”

28 February: Brett’s practice talk for Major Transitions in the Evolution of Cognition workshop

14 March: Chapter 1 of Joyce Havstad’s book draft manuscript

28 March: Intemann, “Who needs consensus anyway? Addressing manufactured doubt and increasing public trust in climate science”

18 April: Kovaka, “Climate change denial and beliefs about science”

2 May: Nathan, “Pluralism is the answer! What is the question?”

16 May: Mayden, “Consilience and a hierarchy of species concepts: Advances toward closure on the species puzzle”

30 May: Bikyu’s draft paper

6 June: Aja Watkins’ draft paper

27 June: Kiper et al., “Experimental philosophy”

4 July: David’s draft paper

Semester 2 2022

26 July: Reydon, “On radical solutions in the philosophy of biology: What does ‘individuals thinking’ actually solve?”

9 August: David’s draft paper “Philosophical moves”

23 August: Bulbulia, “The cognitive and evolutionary psychology of religion”

6 September: Antony, “Quine as Feminist: The Radical Import of Naturalized Epistemology”

20 September: Feyaerts & Vanheule, “The logic of appearance: Dennett, phenomenology and psychoanalysis”

4 October: Michaelian, “Is external memory memory? Biological memory and extended mind”

18 October: Vazquez, “The gay gene(s)? Rethinking the concept of sexual orientation in the context of science”

1 November: Nguyen, “Echo chambers and epistemic bubbles”

15 November: Curry, “Scientific psychology for folk craft: The case of IQ”

29 November: Mitchell, “Integrative pluralism”

13 December: Deaven, “Relative significance controversies in evolutionary biology”