In the next Perspectives on Science seminar, Benjamin Santos Genta (University of California, Irvine) will give a talk titled “The Easy and Hard Problem of Similarity”.
The seminar takes place in person at Metsätalo and online via Zoom from 14:15 to 15:45 on Monday the 7th of October 2024. To join the seminar, please contact jessica.north@helsinki.fi for the location or Zoom invitation.
Perspectives on Science is a research seminar which brings together experts from the philosophy of science and several fields of science studies. It is organized by TINT – Centre for Philosophy of Social Science at the University of Helsinki. More information about the seminar can be found on the TINT web page https://tint.helsinki.fi.
Abstract:
In this talk, I distinguish between two kinds of similarity judgments made when reasoning analogically from models: an easy and a hard kind. The easy kind can be empirically explored and analysed, while it is much harder to conceptualize how to do this with the hard kind. I then show how some of the most forceful recent objections against the similarity view of model representation are substantially mitigated when this distinction is taken into account.
Author bio:
Benjamin Santos Genta is a PhD candidate in Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine. His work lies at the intersection of philosophy of science and social science. His dissertation explores the role similarity judgments play in the methodology of social sciences.