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B04

B04: A frame-theoretic investigation of unification and reduction in scientific theories

Overview

Publications

Talks & Posters

Events

Funding period: 01.07.2011 – 30.06.2015

We will begin the project by providing a comparative analysis of existing notions of reduction and unification. On the basis of this analysis we will propose our own frame-theoretic concepts of these notions. We will then proceed to test the frame-theoretic concepts of reduction and unification against historically-informed case studies from 19th and 20th century physics and chemistry and from post-Darwinian biology. The work on these case studies will help us establish the sorts of logical operations on frames needed to adequately represent the more dynamical aspects of reduction and unification. Last but not least our results shall be used, through collaboration with project A01 and other projects, develop end extend the formal theory of frames.

Head of the project

Gerhard Schurz
Institut für Philosophie
Universitätsstr. 1
40225 Düsseldorf
Phone: +49 211 81-129 14
Email: schurz@phil.uni-duesseldorf.de

Staff

Dr. Ioannis Votsis
Tel: +49 211 81-121 98
E-Mail: votsis@phil.uni-duesseldorf.de

Mats Dietrich
Tel: +49 211 81-121 98
E-Mail:Mats.Dietrich@uni-duesseldorf.de

2014

Schurz, G. (2014) ‘Unification and explanation: Explanation as a prototype concept.. A reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg and de Regt’, Theoria, vol. 29(1): 57-70. [pdf]

Schurz, G. & I. Votsis (2014) ‘Reconstructing scientific theory change by means of frames’, in T. Gamerschlag et al. (Eds.), Frames and Concept Types: Applications in Language and Philosophy, Springer, pp. 93-109.[link]

2012

Votsis, I. & G. Schurz (2012) ‘A frame-theoretic analysis of two rival conceptions of heat’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol. 43(1): 105-114.[pdf]

2011

Schurz, G. (2011) ‘Structural correspondence, indirect reference, and partial truth: Phlogiston theory and Newtonian mechanics’, Synthese, vol. 180(2): 103-120.[link]

2014

Ioannis Votsis. Intelligence as Portability in Problem-Solving. Talk given at International Association for Computing and Philosophy 2014, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Ioannis Votsis. Veridical Perception and Observation. Keynote lecture given at the Experience and Reality conference, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia.

Ioannis Votsis. The Metaphysical Status of Logical Principles. Talk given at Aspects and Prospects of Realism in the Philosophy of Science and Mathematics, University of Athens.

2013

Ioannis Votsis. An Inferentialist Account of Confirmation. Talk given at the Inferentialism in Epistemology and Philosophy of Science workshop, University of Madrid.

Ioannis Votsis. Logic as Ultra-Physics. Talk given at California State University Los Angeles.

Ioannis Votsis. Positivism in the 21st Century. Graduate seminar at the University of California Davis.

Ioannis Votsis. Empiricism Unchained. Talk given at Bay Area Philosophy of Science, San Francisco State University.

Ioannis Votsis. Science with Artificially Intelligent Agents. Talk given at the 2nd Conference on the Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence (PT-AI 2013), University of Oxford.

Ioannis Votsis. The Scientific Method. Talk given at the British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference, University of Exeter.

Ioannis Votsis. Objectivity in Confirmation. Talk given at Philosophy of Science in a Forest, Dutch Society for the Philosophy of Science.

Ioannis Votsis. Post-Hoc Monsters and the Frankenstein Theory of Confirmation. Talk given at the Logos Colloquium, University of Barcelona.

Ioannis Votsis. The Houdini Argument for Intrinsic Properties. Talk given at the Metaphysics of Scientific Realism Workshop, University of Athens.

2012

Ioannis Votsis. Re-evaluating the Reach of Determining Factors in the Underdetermination Thesis. Talk given at the 2nd Panhellenic Conference in the Philosophy of Science, University of Athens.

Ioannis Votsis. Universal Empiricism. Talk at the Philosophy of Science Association Twenty Third Biennial Meeting, San Diego (presented by Otavio Bueno).

Ioannis Votsis. Reference for Realists. Invited talk given at the Reference and Scientific Realism Symposium, Wuhan University.

Ioannis Votsis. The Feeble, Few and Far Between Coincidences Argument for Realism. Talk given at the British Society for the Philosophy of Science Annual Conference, University of Sterling.