St Mary’s University, Philosophy Department Royal Institute of Philosophy Public Lecture
February:
Statistical Predictions are Always True (and that's why they are not about me)
Dr Ardo van den Hout Lecturer in Statistics Department of Statistical Science, UCL
26th February 2015 5.15-6.45pm followed by a drinks reception
Senior Common Room St Mary’s University, Twickenham
Abstract
Predictions based on sound statistics always include uncertainty and are therefore hard to falsify. Furthermore, a statistical statement is based on a model which is assumed to be descriptive for a population. Statistical models are abstractions. As a consequence, statements based on statistical models are not really about concrete individual entities, like you or me. With the growing importance of statistics, it becomes of interest to understand the essence of statistical statements and to explore what kind of errors can be made when using statistics. Knowledge about statistics is not needed for this seminar. I will start with a small example to introduce the basic elements, and that will suffice for the rest of the talk.
About the Speaker
Ardo is lecturer in statistics at the Department of Statistical Science, University College London. In the Netherlands, he studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Nijmegen and completed a PhD in social statistics at the University of Utrecht in 2004. Previously he worked in the Medical Research Council Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge. His philosophical interest is in epistemology of mathematics. His work in statistics is on methods for longitudinal data analysis and multi-state models, with applications in ageing research. His publications can be found journals such as Statistical Modelling, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, Statistics in Medicine, and Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series C.
For further information please contact: Marije Altorf [log in to unmask]
March:
Are we accountable for unconscious biases?
Prof. Helen Beebee, Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy, University of Manchester
5th March 2015 5.15-6.45pm followed by a drinks reception
Senior Common Room St Mary’s University, Twickenham
Abstract
There is increasingly persuasive evidence that our behaviour is often affected by implicit biases: unconscious attitudes to people of a certain kind (e.g. women, different ethnic groups, disabled people) that often contradict our explicit, conscious beliefs. Under what circumstances, if any, are we accountable for those biases themselves and the behaviour that they cause? I argue that there are at least some circumstances under which we are morally responsible for behaviour that stems from implicit biases, even if that behaviour is not under our conscious control.
About the Speaker
Helen Beebee is Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester. Her research interests include freedom of the will, causality, and the philosophy of David Hume, and her publications include Hume on Causation (Routledge 2006) and Free Will: An Introduction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). She co-chairs the joint British Philosophical Association/Society for Women in Philosophy Committee on Women in Philosophy.
For further information please contact Y J Erden: [log in to unmask]
Registration and venue information for both lectures:
Registration
All lectures are free and open to the public without registration. Lectures start at 5.15pm and last for 45 minutes, with 45 minutes for questions and discussion. This is then followed by a wine reception.
Venue
Senior Common Room, St Mary’s University, Waldegrave Road, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham TW1 4SX
Directions to the University can be found at www.stmarys.ac.uk/contact/directions.htm