MILLENNIAL QUINQUENNIAL WORKSHOP: CALL FOR PARTICIPATION (SECOND POSTING)
DEMARCATION SOCIALISED:
OR,
CAN WE RECOGNISE SCIENCE WHEN WE SEE IT?
What would have been the Fifth Bath Quinquennial Science Studies Workshop,
now the South-Western Universities Quinquennial, is now being planned for
Cardiff University 25 to 28 August 2000
The workshop, which will address the question of what makes science
special, will follow the traditions established by the previous
quinquennial workshops held at the University of Bath. We are aiming to
achieve a target attendance of around 100 participants and envisage a
relatively informal conference spread over 3-4 days. This email provides a
brief description of the workshop and what to do if you would like to
participate.
In particular, if you are interested in attending, we would ask that you
contact us as soon as possible and, at the very latest, before the end of
May. At this stage, we would like to know your name, the title of your
paper and have some indication of the accommodation you would require. You
can do this either replying to this email or use the WWW page listed
below. If there is not sufficient support for the event, we won't organise
it and that is why we need intimations of interest real soon. This will
also help us get discounted accommodation and so forth
Finally, to save time and expense we have decided to publicise the
workshop using electronic media only. We ask you, therefore, to forward
this email to anyone who you think might be interested.
WORKSHOP PLANS
To date we have made some provisional arrangements to host the conference
in the newly refurbished 'Glamorgan Building' which is a listed building
in the Civic Centre and home of the Cardiff School of Social Sciences. The
building is close to the City Centre where there is a wide range of hotels
that will reserve some rooms and offer discounted rates if we book soon
enough. Prices range from about 35 pounds per night for 'Bed and
Breakfast' in the nearby University Halls of Residence up to 95 pounds per
night for a single occupancy double-room at the 5* Hilton hotel. All
accommodation be within short walking distance of the Glamorgan Building
and City Centre.
We will also arrange conference banquet and cruise. This would be included
in the conference registration fee, which we expect to be no more than 50
pounds.
We are expecting contributions from many of the key figures in science
studies who have made the previous series of quinquennial conferences such
a success and the programme committee reflects this. We do not want a
gathering of the great and the good alone, however, and are keen to
encourage participation from younger scholars as well as representatives
across the range of science studies interests and across the international
community. An application to the European Union to fund participation by
young academics will be made in May 1999, though at this stage we cannot
guarantee any funding support at all (the principle on which the previous
Bath conferences were organised).
WORKSHOP THEME
The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers interested in
what, if anything, makes science different to other forms of social
activity. In particular, what happens to the idea of 'science' now that
Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and other 'post-modern' movements have
blurred the boundaries between it and other activities? We still talk of
science, but what do we mean by it. What can replace the old debate about
'demarcation criteria?' Should it be replaced? Do we need new demarcation
criteria? What will demarcation look like if it has to be socialised? What
is special about science and technology, their types and sub-divisions, as
social activities rather than as epistemologically distinct activities? In
other words, we know what makes science similar to art, to politics, and
to everyday life, but is there anything that makes it different?
Though the workshop will be responsive to speakers' preferred projects we
will try to encourage themes such as the demarcations of:
* Science from Non-Science;
* Progressive Science from Degenerate or Pathological Science;
* Reasonable Criticism from Unfounded or Mistaken Criticism;
* Science and Policy;
* Public Understanding from Trade Secrets
* Health from Illness.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further details about the workshop, Cardiff University and the City of
Cardiff itself are available at:
http:// http://www.cf.ac.uk/uwcc/socas/research/kes/index.html
or contact
Dr. Robert Evans,
Centre for the Study of Knowledge, Expertise and Science (KES),
Cardiff University,
50 Park Place,
Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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