 |
 |
*** Final Call for Papers *** NOVEL PREDICTIONS February 25-26 2011, Heinrich-Heine Universitaet Duesseldorf, Germany. Organisers: Gerhard Schurz, Ludwig Fahrbach and Ioannis Votsis Invited Speakers: Martin Carrier (Bielefeld), Deborah Mayo (Virginia Tech), Cornelis Menke (Bielefeld), Stathis Psillos (Athens), Roger White (MIT) and John Worrall (LSE). The aim of the conference is to explore new and fruitful answers to three central questions: What are novel predictions? Ought novel predictions have more epistemic weight than mere accommodations? Can novel predictions help us make headway in the scientific realism debate? We expect that the talks will cover one or more of the following related topics, simplicity, unification, curve-fitting, approximate truth, inference to the best explanation, the no-miracles argument and scientific theory change. We invite abstracts of up to 500 words on any of the above or closely related topics. Please e-mail contributions to Ioannis Votsis ( [log in to unmask] ). Make sure to include your full name, institutional affiliation and e-mail address. Submission Deadline: 15 OCTOBER 2010 Acceptance Notification: 15 NOVEMBER 2010 We hope to publish the proceedings of the conference in a reputable scientific journal. Upon completion of the conference, we will invite participants to submit written-up versions of their talks. Submitted papers will then be subjected to a peer-review process. Speakers – Provisional Talk Titles: -------------------------------------------------------- Martin Carrier (Bielefeld) 'Prediction in Context: On the Comparative Epistemic Merit of Predictive Success' Deborah Mayo (Virginia Tech) 'Some Surprising Facts About (the problem of) Surprising Facts' Ludwig Fahrbach (Duesseldorf) 'Novel Predictions: In Search of the Wow-Factor' Cornelis Menke (Bielefeld) 'On the Vagueness of "Novelty" and Chance as an Explanation of Predictive Success' Stathis Psillos (Athens) 'Novelty-in-Use: On Perrin's Argument for Molecules' Gerhard Schurz (Duesseldorf) 'Theoretical Parameters and Use-Novelty Criterion of Confirmation' Ioannis Votsis (Duesseldorf) 'Novel Predictions: The Few Miracles Argument for Scientific Realism' Roger White (MIT) 'Testing' John Worrall (LSE) 'Prediction and Accommodation: A Comparison of Rival Views' -------------------------------------------------------- Attendance is open to all. If you plan to attend please contact Ioannis Votsis ( [log in to unmask] ).